Young Carers
Supporting Our Young Carers
In our school, we are committed to ensuring that all children reach their full potential! We know that for some children, however, factors outside of school can have a big impact on this, particularly if there is someone in their family or a friend who is ill, disabled, or has a mental health problem or an addiction.
Nationally, on average, in every class there could be as many as 2 pupils who are helping to support someone because of one of these factors – we call these children young carers.
Children can be young carers for lots of different reasons:
- They might be providing physical support to a parent with a physical illness such as fibromyalgia or ME, such as cooking, fetching things or helping with things like putting shoes on or doing the shopping
- They might be helping a parent with a disability who needs help with more personal tasks such as getting dressed, bathing or changing dressings
- Or it could be more emotional support – like being there if their autistic sibling is upset, taking responsibility for young siblings whilst parents attend health appointments, or checking that a parent with depression/anxiety is ok.
Some young carers might be doing lots of caring, others just a small amount but are impacted by the situation at home for example by worrying about the person with the health condition, or needing to do more things for themselves compared to other children.
There is lots of support available for young carers and their families should they ever need it – both inside and outside of school. Examples of this include:
- Allowing additional time to complete schoolwork, e.g. extended deadlines.
- Catch-ups with the young carer lead where the pupil can talk about issues they are facing educationally, this may be individual meetings, or through a young carer drop in session.
- Meetings with their class teacher to discuss progress and any additional help that can be offered.
- Additional support to complete work, e.g. through deployment of teaching assistants.
- Access to extra-curricular opportunities which do not fall outside of the school day.
- The school will ensure that the pupil is offered appropriate pastoral care and emotional support, e.g. through The Junction.
- Additional support will be offered to parents in order to remove any communication barriers with them.
- The school will continuously promote additional links with adult care agencies which may be able to support families and relieve care responsibilities.
If you think that any of the above applies to your child, and that they might possibly be a young carer please contact our Young Carer Champion, Miss Langstaff or any member of the Pastoral Team and we will be in touch.
Even if you feel your child or family are doing really well and don’t need any support, we find that it’s better for us to be aware of children as potential young carers, in case the situation suddenly changes and they (or you) do need support. It just means that you and your child don’t have to start from scratch with letting us know what is going on if things have become difficult.
Below are some national organisations who support Young Carers and their families:
| Organisation |
| Childrens Society https://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/information/young-people/young-carers Advice and support for young carers, including finding a local Young Carers support group |
| Carers Trust https://carers.org/ Carers Trust runs a network of local carer organisations in England |
| Carers UK https://www.carersuk.org/ Carers UK is providing information on the various types of carer’s assessments nationwide. |
| NHS https://www.nhs.uk/social-care-and-support/support-and-benefits-for-carers/help-for-young-carers/ The role of the NHS with Young Carers |
| Barnardos https://www.barnardos.org.uk/get-support/young-carers Support from the national children’s charity |
You don’t have to do it all on your own—we are here to support you.
