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Becoming a Partner

Online mentoring is ideal for helping young people in many different ways, such as raising aspirations in school, supporting students in higher education, providing insights into careers, and learning skills for work.

We work closely with our partners to design the structure, timeline and content of our projects, based on our mentoring expertise and the specific requirements of the young people we are supporting.

Find out more about online mentoring and our different projects for:

• Pre-16 Pupils
• Careers Advice
• HE Access and Application
• Pre-arrival

To discuss setting up an online mentoring project and our prices, get in touch with Nick Wells on 0203 096 8120 or nick.wells@brightside.org.uk

Brightside offers the following to our partners:

Online mentoring platform

Mentees and mentors have full access to Brightside’s online mentoring platform, allowing them to communicate whenever and wherever is most convenient to them. Designed in collaboration with our users and partners to ensure it meets their needs, the online platform features:

• A moderated messaging system including filters to screen for inappropriate content
• E-learning activities and articles from Bright Knowledge, Brightside’s bank of resources on careers, education and student life
• Tools to help co-ordination, monitor engagement and aid evaluation
• Multiple layers of online security

The platform is fully mobile-compliant, and accessible via any internet-enabled device, including through Brightside’s iOS app. It can also be customised with your organisation’s branding.

Safeguarding

Child protection and the safety of all our users is Brightside’s top priority. We have strict practices in place to ensure everyone using the mentoring platform has a safe and enjoyable experience:

• Enhanced DBS checks and mentor training. All staff and mentors involved in Brightside projects are required to hold an enhanced DBS certificate. Once DBS checked, mentors are trained by an authorised member of staff. Mentors can only take part in the programme if they have attended an online or face-to-face training session and they have a DBS check dated within the last 3 years.
• Password protection. Brightside’s online mentoring sites are closed websites. Registered users log in using an individual username and password. Passwords are encrypted and never shared, not even with authorised members of staff.
• Moderation. An automated security filter is used to detect words from a comprehensive “stop list” of inappropriate content. If any communication within the platform is found to contain a word from the stop list, that message will be held in a moderation queue and is not viewable by users until an authorised member of staff has reviewed the correspondence. This list includes:
• Inappropriate or concerning words
• Contact details e.g email addresses, postcodes, phone numbers
• Attachments and URLs
• Words that may indicate communicating outside of the programme e.g ‘Facebook’ or ‘meet’
• Access to messages. All messages sent within the platform can be accessed by authorised members of Brightside and by local scheme coordinators. Regular spot-checks on messages are performed.
• Hosting and security certificates. Our sites are hosted in a secure environment and the online mentoring system is built on an open source platform with rigorous security measures. All Brightside online mentoring sites hold valid and up to date Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates, ensuring that all sensitive information submitted to the site is encrypted and protected. The site has been NSPCC audited.
• Child protection procedure. Brightside has two dedicated NSPCC-trained child protection officers, who can be contacted at any time. They will provide immediate expert action and support, and implement our robust child protection procedures.

Training

Mentors and mentees will receive training from Brightside, which can be delivered either face-to-face or via webinar. Training covers:

• Introduction to mentoring
• Using the platform
• Writing messages and forming a successful mentoring relationship
• Safeguarding and child protection
• Accessing help and support

Alternatively, Brightside can support your staff and provide materials so they can deliver training themselves.

Coordination and recruitment

Partners are assigned a Brightside coordinator as a single point of contact who will provide:

• Recruitment and training materials
• Training for your delivery staff on the use of the platform
• Training for your delivery staff on delivering training to mentors and mentees
• Telephone support for your delivery staff during office hours

In addition, Brightside can also provide further coordination support including:

• Direct recruitment of mentors and mentees
• Designing a mentoring schedule with key topics for mentors to discuss with their mentees
• Moderating all messages and communicating with users
• Evaluation

Evaluation

Brightside’s mentoring is based on our Theory of Change, which identifies the key outcomes young people need to develop to make confident and informed decisions about their future:

• Growth mindset: believing your abilities can be developed through hard work
• Hope: setting specific goals, and having the flexibility and motivation to achieve them
• Self-efficacy: having confidence and knowing your strengths
• Coping: dealing with difficulties in a positive way
• Human capital: learning specific knowledge and skills
• Social capital: knowing people to turn to for advice and support

We use robust evaluation frameworks to collect qualitative and quantitative data measuring young people’s progress towards these outcomes. We also work with our partners to identify and evaluate any other particular objectives of individual projects e.g increased awareness of certain careers or improved study skills.

We can combine this with engagement data in a written report for partners, which provides solid evidence of a project’s impact on beneficiaries, and contains recommendations for how projects can be refined. This enables partners to understand how a project has met their aims, and demonstrate ROI to funders.