SHINE brings student mentors to SE1 primary school kids

SHINE – Make Every Child Count recently held a launch event to mark its new status as a registered charity after four years as a community programme giving academic and pastoral support to children at inner city primary schools through the use of university student mentors.

SHINE currently currently reaches over 150 children in Southwark and Lambeth aged between 9 and 11, and the Mayor of Southwark Cllr Eliza Mann was among the guests lending their support to the fledgling charity.

Snowsfields Primary School, Charles Dickens Primary School, Beormund School and the Globe Academy in Southwark and Johanna Primary School in Waterloo are involved so far.

About two-thirds of SHINE's volunteers are students at King's College London's Guy's and Waterloo campuses.

"The event is an important opportunity for us to raise awareness as we make the transition from a community programme to a fully fledged charity," says SHINE co-founder and graduate medical student Sophie Raynor.

"We hope that as a result we will be able to help even more local school children in the future."