Outreach and charity work

We are very proud of our high level of involvement with the local community, so if you want to give something back in return for how well life has treated you, there are plenty of opportunities to do that through our mentoring schemes working with young people throughout County Durham.

Collingwood runs two very flourishing schemes in the community of the City and the County of Durham.

Friendship and Mentoring Children

In conjunction with Social Services, a programme offering friendship and mentoring to looked-after children (children in care). They get a pretty raw deal in this country – something like half the adolescents living on the streets come from ‘care’. Collingwood provides, every year, around 35 students who befriend, and mentor, children one-to-one: that might involve help with schoolwork, but it’s often just a case of going shopping, or going to a football match, or going bowling. These are children who often have very little that is stable in their lives; we think that our students offer them genuine friendship, and genuine caring – and the programme is felt, by Social Services, to be genuinely helpful!

Student Associates Scheme

Collingwood is a partner with the Local Authority and the University's Access and Student Recruitment office as part of a collaboration with the Universities of Sunderland and Teesside in a government-funded project to offer students experience of working in schools and offer schools and young people the benefits of the enthusiasm and energy of our students helping in their classrooms and in after-school activities.  We recruit student associates each March for the following academic year.  We'll post specific details of the application process nearer the time.