70 minutes that can change a life

The Devonport Chaplaincy Student mentoring program enables you as part of this local community the opportunity to volunteer as a student mentor. You will work 1 to 1 for approximately 70 mins per week. The mentor and the student participate in a variety of different tasks depending on the needs of the student.

Mentoring provides a student with a caring and supportive relationship that can help them through school and enable them to be better equipped for further education and future employment. Every mentoring relationship is designed to be ﬂexible to meet each students speciﬁc individual needs and ultimately to improve their self esteem, associated health and attendance at school.

As a mentor you can help a young person improve their education outcome, to stay motivated and to therefore be more connected to their school. By enabling students to have one on one access to an adult with whom a significant relationship can be formed, they have greater opportunity to be engaged and encouraged with their education.


Mentoring is making a difference

In one sense it seems almost too simple, too easy, but the fact remains, having another person come alongside you, who believes in you and is prepared to commit to helping you achieve your goals is life changing. Mentoring is making a significant difference in the lives of many students across this region. Students with in a dedicated 1 to 1 mentor show significant improvement in their relationships with their peers, family and friends.

Improvement in School work

From the input of a positive and significant other students with a 1 to 1  mentor show marked improvement in their literacy and numeracy outcomes.

More likely to attend School

Attendance and school retention is improved as a result of students feeling more connected.

Better classroom behavior

Students experiencing the input of mentor are less likely to be disruptive in class.

Established sense of belonging

As a result of young people feeling they “belong” resilience is developed subsequently having a positive impact on the students social, emotional spiritual wellbeing.

Helps to create purpose and direction

The input of a significant other helps a student work with clarity towards establishing a clear purpose and direction for their future pathways.

Better Relationships

Students within a dedicated 1 to 1 mentoring show significant improvement in their relationships with their peers, family and friends.


Life Transforming

Students with a Mentor have shown a marked improvement in their schoolwork and socialise better with their classmates along with a decrease in disruptive behavior and inattention in class. This is a happy situation for all concerned, the parent, teacher, class, and most importantly the student.

The long-term benefits of this are significant. Think of this in terms of the benefits to our community let alone the fact that young people have the opportunity to leave school with a sense of purpose, direction and value to their lives. Mentoring has a “life transforming” impact and will change a future generation.

As a Mentor you can be a positively influential person who can significantly help another person reach a major life goal. Mentoring is a protected relationship in which learning can occur, potential skills can be developed, and in which results can be measured in terms of competencies gained rather than curricular territory covered. It is a relationship, it is not an activity.

Changing Lives

Students with a Mentor have shown a significant change and transformation in their emotional resilience and a better ability to adapt to stressful situations resulting in improved social and educational outcomes. A direct result of this for students means they then have higher levels of engagement with learning, recognise their own responsibilities and develop self-regulation.

Here is a brief story about a student allocated with a mentor. “The mentor faithfully turned up at school for their allocated mentoring session each week, for almost two months. However the student over these two months did not turn up. The School social worker observed this so they decided to talk with the student and find out what was going on. When the student was told that their Mentor had been turning up for the least 8 weeks they replied, “Really, they’ve been coming every week even though I haven’t been turning up?“, “Yes” said the social worker. “Ok” said the student, I’ll be there this week. They’ve turned up for their mentoring sessions ever since!

The background for this student was that they had experienced so many fractured and unstable relationships during their life so far they just wanted to make sure that this person could be trusted. The faithfulness and commitment of this mentor merely turning up became the foundation of very special and life changing relationship.


Become A Mentor Today!


Do you want to become a Mentor? Do you have questions? Or are you ready to join our Chaplaincy team and become a valued Mentor? We would love to have you join our team. All you have to do is complete your details right here and we will get back to you asap, ready to answer your questions and give you all the information you need.