Young Carers

Who are Young Carers?

Someone under the age of 18 who is caring, unpaid, for a family member or a friend who is ill, disabled, or has a mental health problem or addiction.  They often take on practical and/or emotional caring responsibilities that would normally be expected of an adult.

Why are we committed to supporting Young Carers?

At Kingsmead School we are committed to continually improving the provision and support we give our young carers and their families.

Every child deserves a positive school experience, to be happy in school and to receive tailored support to help them reach their full potential.

We know that for some students, factors outside of school can have a big impact on the way they feel and behave in school, particularly if someone in their
family is ill, disabled, struggles with their mental health and/or an addiction.

Research indicates that in every class there could be as many as two pupils who are helping to support someone because of one of these factors. These students are young carers.

Kingsmead School was recently given the Young Carers in School Award. This is a nationally recognised honour given to those schools who embed a whole school approach to actively supporting young carers and raising community wide awareness to better meet the needs of students, with a view to ultimately achieving best practice for young carers.

What are we doing to support our Young Carers?

• We have created a pupil noticeboard with details of our appointed staff leads (see below), group meeting times, and other information to raise awareness about young carers, their responsibilities and where they can seek internal and external support. The personal details of our young carers will never be shared on this board).
• Our PSHCE curriculum now includes information for young carers and awareness for all other students.
• We have written to parents/carers to help raise awareness about the support on offer and to help identify students who have a young carer responsibility.
• Our website now has a dedicated young carer page.
• A Young Carers Policy has been created to ensure a consistent approach across the whole school, aimed to provide clear guidance and enhance the quality of provision on offer for young carers. This includes staff training, pupil assemblies, regular feedback from young carers, support and more. This policy has been approved by our SLT and by our governing body.
• We now have digital systems and new processes in place to monitor young carers – attainment, attendance, behaviour and support. This has become an important aspect of our daily routines.
• Our primary transition forms and ad-hoc admission forms now collect information about young carer so that we can offer pupils’ support and include them in our friendly support group meetings.

We have appointed a Young Carers Operational Lead who is Mrs Webb (Deputy Headteacher and Designated Safeguarding Lead). Mrs Webb is also a member of our senior leadership team.

We have appointed a Young Carers Administration Lead who is Mrs Greenslade (Admin Manager). Mrs Greenslade is also PA to the Headteacher.

All staff are committed to meeting the needs of young carers so that they can attend and enjoy school (in the same way as other students) and achieve their full potential, by monitoring and providing additional support as needed.  No young carer should be disadvantaged in school because of their responsibilities at home. We are keen to work with parents/carers and young carers to ensure this is not the case and they given the support that they need.

Please note, the school only shares information with professionals and agencies on a need-to-know basis to support pupils and their families.

We will always strive to achieve best practice and continually seek to develop our provision for young carers and their families.

If you have any questions, or would like to let us know your child is a young carer, please contact Mrs Webb or Mrs Greenslade.