Register Your Interest - Youth Mentor - Leadership and Development Programme 2027

About the Role

We’re looking for the next generation of changemakers in London, Greater Manchester, and the West Midlands (including the Black Country) who want to be inspirational role models, mentors and tutors to children who need it the most.

Was there someone who made a difference in your ability to access education? Or perhaps you were a pupil who would have benefited from having a mentor? This is your chance to harness your energy, passion and creativity, in order to become that person for others.

As a mentor, you’ll spend your City Year supporting children in schools who need our help the most—by acting as a student success coach to them and integrating social, emotional and academic learning to realise pupils' potential. Through this approach, you’ll bring a new perspective to learning and boost pupils’ confidence both in and out of the classroom, while improving behaviour and helping them to feel safe, empowered and happy. Your role in creating a positive learning environment where all pupils can thrive is now needed more than ever.

Alongside your teammates, you’ll help pupils engage with and enjoy learning through classroom, one-to-one and small group support. You’ll also be delivering and running breakfast, lunch and after school clubs, and create meaningful relationships with children who need help to do well at school.

Not only will you spend the year changing lives in schools, you’ll also get to take part in City Year UK’s Leadership Development Programme. You’ll have the opportunity to do a relevant accredited CMI Level 3 qualification as part of the programme. Plus, we’ll create specially tailored Professional Development Programmes to measure your progress and help you develop the key skills and competencies that employers are looking for.

This is a fantastic opportunity to join our leadership development programme and help tackle educational inequality in schools, starting from August 2027–July 2028.

Join us, get involved and # BeTheChange.

What You'll Be Doing

All schools are different, and depending on the needs of the pupils you might do all, or a combination, of the activities listed below.

While in school…

• Building meaningful and trusting relationships with targeted pupils to support them in school
• 1-to-1 mentoring, working with a designated list of pupils who require more intensive support (when required), delivering a range of interventions in English and maths using content provided by the school
• Supporting teachers in the classroom by working with small groups of pupils
• Being an example of good behaviour for all children at all times
• Helping to encourage attendance and punctuality in all pupils
• Encouraging library use, supervising homework or study clubs, supervising fun before-school activities for the whole school (such as breakfast clubs), to get pupils energised and ready for school
• Running a range of extra curricular clubs, e.g sports, music, homework, debating etc to help build children’s confidence
• Measuring the impact of your interventions on your focus list students through access to student data
• Supporting the school with break and lunch duties, creating displays, coordinating of special events and trips, sorting or marking of books or materials, and entering valuable pupil data
• Planning special projects to engage parents and the local community

And out of school…

• Developing your career with training, coaching and career workshops
• Attending external events with our business partners and influential figures
• Appearing at recruitment events, in order to inspire and tell prospective volunteers all about what we do and how it all works
• Taking part in volunteering days with our funders
• Shadowing our staff and business partners while at work
• Supporting with the planning and delivery of social action projects in the local community
• Connecting with a mentor for your own professional development

Working Hours & Management

You’ll be line managed on site by one of our school-based programme staff team. The City Year Mentor role is full-time. The programme runs Monday to Friday during term time only. A typical school day begins at around 8am, and finishes around 4.00pm–4.30pm, including an hour-long break (this may vary depending on your school’s rota).

What You'll Get

As part of your City Year experience, you’ll receive:

• Day-to-day experience of working in schools and with children
• Year-long support and development from City Year staff in school
• Bespoke training sessions on Fridays, to develop leadership and employability skills. The top employment destinations for City Year UK graduates are Education/Teaching (37%), Charity & voluntary work (22%), and Business, Finance & Law Enforcement (14%)
• A designated professional mentor from our corporate partners
• Access to an accredited CMI Level 3 leadership course and new networks
• £115-£125 living expenses per week, dependent on region, plus all travel expenses reimbursed—see more info below
• One of our iconic red jackets
• The opportunity to become part of a unique alumni network that has shared a transformative experience—over 90% of our alumni agreed positively that City Year helped prepare them for their career path.

Expenses

During your City Year, we will make sure that you are supported financially. You’ll be entitled to claim reimbursed living expenses up to £5,250 a year in London / £4,830 in the West Midlands (which includes the Black Country) and Greater Manchester, and other benefits. This is not a salary and should not affect how you receive any state benefits (if that’s applicable to your personal situation) for things like housing, free prescriptions etc. In addition to living expenses, we’ll also reimburse the exact amount of money that you spend on the most reasonable method of transport used to get to/from school and our City Year offices.

If you complete your City Year during your placement year, you can also still qualify for a maintenance loan from Student Finance. City Year classifies as a Type B placement (unpaid placement in an educational / charity setting), which means the loan amount you receive may be higher. See more info about student financial support here.

To Apply, You'll Need:

• To be aged 18-25
• To be able to commit to full-time volunteering work during the school term
• Passion and enthusiasm for working with children and tackling educational inequality
• An ability to be a positive role model for others
• Good written and verbal communication skills
• A responsible, resilient, thoughtful and empathetic nature
• A willingness to take initiative
• To be committed to taking on challenges and seeing them through
• Self awareness and an openness to learning new skills
• To be adaptable and willing to step out of your comfort zone
• Experience working–whether voluntary or paid–with children or young people (desirable)

Background Checks

We will also run background checks. Appointment is subject to clearance through the Disclosure and Barring Service, and receipt of satisfactory references. This role involves contact with children and young people which by law is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. Prospective candidates are not entitled to withhold information and must declare all convictions, including spent convictions, cautions, reprimands and final warnings. Any information given will be completely confidential and will be considered only in relation to any application or positions to which the Order applies.

Safeguarding

City Year UK is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people, and to advancing equality, diversity and inclusion. All volunteers are expected to share these commitments. Full training and support will be provided to ensure volunteers understand their responsibilities.

Register Your Interest

To be the first to know once applications open, register your interest today!