What is the Lighthouse Mentor Programme?

One of the amazing resources our students have access to during their time in our Sixth Form, is the 'Lighthouse Mentor Programme'. We caught up with Mrs Downing, Development and Alumnae Officer here at Redmaids' High School, to find out what the Lighthouse rogramme is all about.  

1. Can you tell us what the Lighthouse Mentor Programme is?

The Lighthouse Mentor Programme allows our Sixth Form students to access the alumnae network of some 8000 former students who might have undertaken courses they are looking to pursue, studied at institutions they are considering or be forging careers in fields of interest.  As part of the Sixth Form Futures programme, Year 12s have Lighthouse sessions and are introduced to our alumnae portal, Redmaids' High Connect, and all that it can offer. 

Whilst we have a network of alumnae that have actively signed up to be an email mentor, students are encouraged to ask direct questions which we send out on their behalf to relevant alumnae.  Recent interactions have helped our students hone in on whether to pursue Zoology or Criminology at University, whether to aim for a campus based or London school of medicine, what our former students have gone on to do with their History degree and much, much more.

2. Who is the programme for? 

The programme is primarily for our Year 12 and Year 13 students, however we have also run similar sessions for Year 11s with Zoom panels discussing streams on professional services, caring professions and the charity sector, Defence and essential services, entrepreneurship and the creative arts. We hope to do more of these sessions for more of our year groups as it's never too early to think about the future.

3. Why would you encourage students to get involved with the Lighthouse Mentor Programme? 

It's never too soon to think about your future and, more importantly, to think creatively about it.  Lots of students might discount medicine without thinking about the range of career opportunities medical sciences could unleash.  Furthermore, Lighthouse aims to provide useful insight and background material - food for thought if you will.  We've just introduced the effective altruism movement website to a student interested in international relations and the careers advice offered on the 80,000 hours website. She had never come across this material before. If you haven't heard of it, it's a movement all about maximising the good you can do in your career - something more and more of our students are interested in.  It's no coincidence that the most highly attended of our recent careers talks were with an alumna who is now a conservation consultant specialising in marine plastics and an alumna who works across a range of projects for the UNOPs in Copenhagen. 

To find out more about what we offer in our Sixth Form, come along to one of our upcoming Open Events.