Character mentoring
Our renowned 1:1 character mentoring develops a young person’s character, executive function and communication skills, allowing them to thrive at school and beyond.
Take a short questionnaire to build a picture of your child's strengths and weaknesses across character, communication and executive function skills.
Why character education
Character mentoring helps young people develop the human skills that grades alone can’t.
Kids don’t take advice from their parents
80% of parents think they communicate well but only 52% of teens agree.
Social and tech pressures are on the rise
Rates of adolescent anxiety and depression have surged 50 to 150% in a decade.
Schools, universities and employers want more than grades
97% of employers value soft skills as much as academic results.
AI makes human skills more valuable than ever
Creativity, empathy, communication and other human skills will never go out of date.
Our programmes
We’ve been developing great content for mentoring since 2016. Our character programmes are underpinned by a research-driven curriculum of activities and session plans.
Character Journey
Improving knowledge, goal setting and confidence
Students will build an understanding of their strengths and areas for development, setting a game plan for academic and personal growth. They will strategise where challenges appear on the horizon, breaking down complex problems and setting manageable goals.
Skills Journey
Learning how to learn and getting things done
Students will progress their executive function skills in partnership with their mentor through highly engaging EF activities designed to improve cognitive function, organisational skills and self-awareness on how they learn best.
Communication Journey
Active listening and communicating with confidence
Students will develop their speaking, listening and presentation skills, empowering them to speak with confidence and fluency in any setting.
Timeline
How it works
Step 1
Set up the programme with a client manager
Having shared further context on your child and their availability, you’ll have the choice of 12, 25 or 50 hours of mentoring support, with thought to your preferred timeframe and frequency for the relationship.
Step 2
Find the perfect mentor
After getting to know your child, we’ll suggest a mentor pairing based on relevant experiences, backgrounds and matching interests. Our mentors span a huge range of backgrounds from working at the Civil Service and Netflix, to the world of journalism and the West End.
Step 3
Check progress on your reports platform
You will receive progress reports following every session from your mentor and regular check-ins from our team. This ensures you have oversight over the process and that we’re working towards the results you’re looking for.
Parents want their child to
What parents say
Student stories
Salar
From Winchester College to Georgetown
Salar’s journey with Oppidan began in 2016 with the process of selective entry to secondary schools. A shy athlete, the Character Journey built his confidence for speaking and writing, learning to structure his thoughts on paper, to be more organised and to express his strengths clearly to adults. On the back of a successful boarding school experience at Winchester College, Salar is keen to launch a career in finance from Georgetown.
Our mentors
Meet our experts
Frequently asked questions
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Our 1:1 character mentoring programmes include:
An initial diagnostic and planning session with our senior team.
12, 25 or 50 sessions of 1:1 support with a carefully matched mentor.
Detailed written reports after every session.
Impact evaluation to track student progress.
An assessed final project, agreed upon by student and mentor.
Mentor matching
Families will have the ability to ask for a change of mentor should there be any dissatisfaction with the initial pairing.
Locations
We deliver this programme to students around the world, from London to New York, Dubai, Bangkok and Seoul. Contact us to find out more about how best we deliver to specific geographies.
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The 11-14 years age phase is far more than just a preparatory phase for secondary school: it’s a foundational period that shapes personal and academic growth. Students encounter varied challenges of increasing difficulty during these formative years. Success in this crucial stage goes beyond achieving good grades; it involves nurturing character and developing key executive function skills that help students flourish.
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Mentors typically deliver to students online, using our integrated video and reporting system and interactive tools for sharing and annotating Oppidan’s resources. We encourage an initial face-to-face meet up between the mentor and the family and where practical, the mentor may upkeep the relationship occasionally in person.
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With some students, we wave goodbye and wish them well for their next phase, the rigours of teenage study and the beginning of university applications. For others, we’ll continue to support them ad hoc. The same mentor or a new face might look to further these newly acquired skills, or to support academic work or application preparation.
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Our students consistently gain admission to the world’s most selective schools and universities, a testament to the effectiveness of our approach. We track progress through regular surveys, student journals and detailed mentor reports. Parents are kept informed at every step, allowing us to address specific challenges and to celebrate growth together. This combination of qualitative and quantitative feedback ensures we deliver lasting impact beyond academics.
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Mentoring is about giving students a toolkit to achieve at school, whereas traditional tutoring more typically involves short-term support delivered by academic specialists. Mentoring should be more deliberately long-term, with a focus on the self and skills to underpin and drive academic engagement and attainment.
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Oppidan Education has been selecting and training mentors since 2016. With a less than 20% acceptance rate, becoming a mentor with Oppidan is a competitive process in itself. We look for empathetic educators who are high achievers from diverse fields. We celebrate their excellence in their ‘other life’, which ensures great engagement from students and a relationship based on strong role modelling.
Speak to the team about character mentoring
Fill out the short form and one of our client managers will be in touch to discuss how best to support your child.