A-level students at Kellett School, The British International School in Hong Kong, are using their own exam experiences to take on mentorship roles to help GCSE students deal with exam anxiety. This innovative programme helps develop leadership and empathy skills in Y12 students, while giving younger students entering their first exam season some wise counsel from those that have recently been through it themselves.

Senior School Music teacher Ms Hewitt has led this project, which helped to identify Y12 students who achieved-highly in a particular subject, and paired them with groups of Y10s who were eager to improve their revision and learning techniques. The mentorship programme has consisted of Y12s working closely with subject teachers each week to plan revision and consolidate materials that they discuss with their Y10 counterparts during tutor time on Wednesday and Thursday mornings. 

The programme so far has been a fantastic success, with students in both year groups very much enjoying the experience. 

"We’ve really enjoyed working as a team to communicate our ideas to the Year 10 students, which has really made us understand what makes a good mentor and has provided us with a useful skill set that will be valuable going into the future", said Y12 Drama mentors. 

Feedback from the Y10s was equally positive, with a Y10 English Literature mentee saying, “Personally, I think that the sessions are very helpful as both my mentors have had experience with this before, which is very useful. I think that they are very good at explaining what I am meant to do and how to answer the questions given.” 

A big congratulations to all of the Y12s who have taken on this added responsibility and showed fantastic leadership and proactivity, and thank you to our Senior School teachers who have taken the time to work with our Y12s. Well done to our Y10s who have shown great enthusiasm and maturity during this programme as well.