

VIP Mentoring S2E7 – Lessons learned as a growing charity
Join LifeLine Project’s Director of Youth Services Nathan Singleton as he explores what it is to be a good mentor.











Mentors have to care!
Over the last twenty years, I have seen the ongoing professionalisation of youth workers leave a tight grip around emotional attachment in mentoring – and while stricter guidelines are undoubtedly necessary for child protection, I have always stood firm in
Building relationship is key when switching young people from failure to success
A few weeks ago Tony, along with his seven other classmates at SW!TCH Expeditions, was causing trouble at school. He could not relate to other students, would often blow up in class and beat up younger students if he didn’t like the way they looked at him. When he was agitated he became a health and safety risk – unable to cope with authority and a law unto himself. His Headteacher was giving him one last chance before the threat of a Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) became reality. Tony was selected as one of the candidates on SW!TCH Expeditions, a programme designed to turn students from persistent trouble-makers into consistent successes.











VIP Mentoring S2E6 – How to sucessfully deliver a payment by results contract
Join LifeLine Project’s Director of Youth Services Nathan Singleton as he explores what it is to be a good mentor.











VIP Mentoring S2E5 – Why and how do you run a residential for pre-NEETs?
Join LifeLine Project’s Director of Youth Services Nathan Singleton as he explores what it is to be a good mentor.











Reaching isolated young people; growing leaders
I don’t know if it was a sense of loyalty, or ownership – but I remember being keen to stay in the youth group I was involved in as a teenager. While my friends were leaving the club, heading up
My journey through secondary school
My personal journey through secondary school was tolerable at the best of times. It is no secret that adolescents in secondary school are handed both the taxing responsibility of being required to know exactly what they would like to do as











VIP Mentoring S2E4 – Remaining true to your vision as a growing team
Join LifeLine Project’s Director of Youth Services Nathan Singleton as he explores what it is to be a good mentor.
Pastoral support: Short-term, light touch vs long-term, intensive
There’s no quick fix for NEET young people. A sustained approach, with commitment and long-term funding is what inspires lasting change and creates game-changers like Robyn and Prince
Robyn was coming up to her GCSE year, but didn’t really care about school work. Her mentor noticed that her attitude to school was quite negative although she had plenty of time for doing things other than homework!
Her mentor expressed her concern and in one of those conversations Robyn was struck by the fact that her mentor seemed to have a strong vision for what she could accomplish through her school work.











VIP Mentoring S2E3 – Top tips for working in schools at different OFSTED grades
Join LifeLine Project’s Director of Youth Services Nathan Singleton as he explores what it is to be a good mentor.











VIP Mentoring S2E2 – Lessons learned from mentoring in 50 schools
Join LifeLine Project’s Director of Youth Services Nathan Singleton as he explores what it is to be a good mentor.
Alternative Education: dumping difficult pupils with bad providers makes the problem worse
As a provider of Alternative Provision for over 11 years, I can sympathise with some of the comments reported from illegal schools last week. As a NEET prevention provider having worked with 50 schools over the last five years, I