Explore options
Compare interests, possibilities and concerns before committing to one route.
Mentoring support
Mentoring helps a young person find direction.
Talk through interests, choices and challenges with a mentor. Help a young person decide what matters to them and what to try next.
Adult-managed enquiry · fit and availability confirmed first
Perspective · direction · next step
PerspectiveSee the choices clearly
DirectionChoose what to test
ReflectionLearn from the action
When mentoring helps
When mentoring can help
Mentoring is most useful when the question is wider than a single task: “Which direction fits?”, “What am I missing?” or “What should I try next?”
Talk through obstacles
Make a challenge easier to understand and identify what support may help.
Choose a next step
Turn a broad ambition into one safe, realistic thing to test or investigate.
Reflect and adapt
Notice what worked, what changed and what the young person wants to try next.
Mentoring is guidance—not therapy, tutoring or a guaranteed result.An adult enquiry helps us check what support is needed, who is available and whether another service would help.
Choose your support
Mentoring or coaching?
Mentoring helps you explore choices. Coaching helps you work towards a goal. You may find both useful at different times.
Choose mentoring when
Mentoring: talk through your options
- Options need exploring
- Confidence or direction feels unclear
- A young person wants to test their thinking
- The next step has not yet been defined
Choose coaching when
Coaching: work towards a goal
- One goal is already visible
- The goal needs breaking into steps
- Accountability would help
- Progress or evidence needs reviewing
Your mentoring enquiry
Tell us what support you need
Tell us about the support needed without including private details. An adult can save the plan or send it with an enquiry.
YOUR MENTORING PLAN
Choose one thing to try
Talk through the choices and concerns with a mentor, then choose one thing to try.
- Bring two or three options—not one final answer.
- Discuss strengths, concerns and what is still unknown.
- Choose one thing to try, ask or investigate next.
Put advice into practice
Put mentoring advice into practice
After talking with a mentor, try an activity or course to put the advice into practice.
Learning
Discuss how course activity connects with interests, choices and real situations.
Explore Starz AcademyWorld of work
Use interests and strengths to choose roles, conversations or practical tasks to explore.
Explore work experienceExperience
Prepare for an opportunity and reflect on what the experience revealed.
Plan work experienceEvidence
Make project learning easier to explain without promising a course or certificate outcome.
Understand accreditationAsk about support
Ask about mentoring
An adult can ask about mentoring without making a booking. We will confirm the support available, how sessions work and the cost before you decide.
- No commitment until format and cost are clear
- Adult contact details only
- Coaching can be suggested if it is the better fit
Before enquiring
Mentoring questions
Find out what mentoring involves, how to enquire and what happens before sessions are agreed.
Compare coachingWhat is the difference between mentoring and coaching?
Mentoring is useful when a young person needs perspective, encouragement or help thinking through choices. Coaching is more tightly focused on one goal, agreed actions and evidence of progress. The adult enquiry can be used when the best route is not yet clear.
Who may benefit from mentoring?
Mentoring may suit a young person who is exploring interests, weighing up options, developing an idea, rebuilding confidence or deciding what to try next. Fit depends on the goal, age, setting, available practitioner and the support already around the young person.
Is mentoring included with a Starz membership?
Mentoring is not automatically included unless the specific membership offer says so. Nu FOCUS confirms any inclusion, separate price, session format and availability with the responsible adult before they commit.
How long is a mentoring session and how often does it happen?
Session length and frequency are confirmed after Nu FOCUS reviews the adult’s brief and checks that mentoring is an appropriate fit. The available format, practitioner, timing and full cost are explained before the adult commits.
How is contact with a young person managed?
The enquiry and arrangements are adult-managed. Safeguarding, consent, communication boundaries and the responsible adult’s role are confirmed before support starts. Do not send a child’s private contact or sensitive support details through the public form.
Can mentoring connect with Starz projects or accredited work?
It can help a learner reflect on a project, make decisions and choose a next step. It does not by itself complete a course or create an accredited outcome. Any AQA UAS route must be offered against a suitable validated unit with the required evidence and arrangements confirmed separately.
Choose what to learn
Ask about mentoring or coaching
Complete the short plan above. We can help you choose mentoring, coaching or another suitable service before you book.