Supporting Young Carers

🌟 Young Carers at St Nics...

What is a Young Carer?

A young carer is someone under 18 who helps care for a family member who has:

A physical or mental illness
A disability
A problem with alcohol or drugs
Other health-related needs

Young carers might help with tasks like cooking, cleaning, shopping, giving medicine, or offering emotional support.

💙 How Being a Young Carer Can Affect You

Being a young carer is a big responsibility. It can sometimes be:

Tiring or stressful
Hard to focus at school
Difficult to find time for friends, hobbies, or homework

But you're not alone — and help is available.

🏫 How We Support Young Carers at St Nics

At St Nics, we want every child to feel supported and understood. If you are a young carer, we can offer:

A trusted adult to talk to
Extra time for homework or classwork if needed
Help getting in touch with support services
A quiet place to take a break when things feel overwhelming

Everything you tell us is confidential and treated with care.

🙋‍♀️ What Should I Do If I Am a Young Carer?

If you think you might be a young carer, or know someone who is, talk to:

Any adult in school!
Our designated Young Carers Lead: Mrs Rooke
The school ELSA (Mrs Birch)

You can also contact local young carer support services who offer clubs, activities, and someone to talk to outside of school.

🧭 Useful Links and Support

Be Free Young Carers
YoungMinds – https://www.youngminds.org.uk
Childline – [0800 1111] or https://www.childline.org.uk
The Children’s Society – Young Carers – https://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/information/young-people/young-carers

📢 Remember

You don’t have to manage everything on your own. We’re here to support you — YOU are doing something amazing.

If you’d like to speak to someone or want more information, please don’t hesitate to come and talk to us.

Aims

Cambrian Learning Trust is committed to supporting young carers to access education.

This policy aims to ensure young carers in all our schools are identified and offered appropriate support to access the education to which they are entitled.

Definition

A young carer is a child or young person who is helping to look after someone at home. Most are caring for a parent, commonly in a single parent family, but some may be taking responsibility for a sibling, grandparent or other relative.

In some instances a young carer may care for more than one family member. The person they look after will have one or more of:

Physical disability (including sensory disability)
Learning disability
Mental health problem
Chronic illness
Substance misuse problem

Caring Tasks

A young carer will take on additional responsibilities to those appropriate to their age and development. A young carer might be providing the main care or share responsibilities with another family member.

The caring tasks that a young carer has to deal with can range from:

• Nursing care - giving medication, injections, changing dressings, assisting with mobility etc.

• Personal intimate care - washing, dressing, feeding and helping with toilet requirements.

• Emotional care - being compliant, monitoring the emotional state of the person cared for, listening, being a shoulder to cry on, supporting a parent through depression and trying to cheer them up.

• Domestic care - doing a substantial amount of housework, cooking, shopping, cleaning, laundry etc.

• Financial care - running the household, bill paying, benefit collection etc.

• Child care - taking responsibility for younger siblings in addition to their other caring responsibilities.

Possible effect on education Cambrian Learning Trust acknowledges that there are likely to be young carers among its pupils, and that being a young carer can have an adverse effect on a young person’s education.

Because of their responsibilities at home, a young carer might experience:

• Being late or absent due to responsibilities at home,

• Concentration problems, anxiety or worry in school,

• Emotional distress,

• Tiredness in school,

• Lack of time for homework,

• Poor attainment,

• Physical problems such as back pain from lifting,

• False signs of maturity, because of assuming adult roles,

• Behavioural problems (taking out their anger or frustration),

• Lack of time for extra-curricular activities,

• Isolation, embarrassed to take friends home,

• Limited social skills,

• Bullying,

• Feeling that no one understands and that no support is available,

• Low self-esteem, It also might be difficult to engage their parents (due to fears about child being taken into care, fears about their condition being misunderstood or their parenting skills being called into question). They may be unable to attend parents’ evenings.

Support Offered

Cambrian Learning Trust acknowledges that young carers may need extra support to ensure they have equal access to education. Through this policy, Cambrian learning Trust is giving the message that young carers’ education is important.

The designated lead for young carers at St Nics is Mrs Rooke. She will liaise with relevant colleagues, Oxfordshire County Council Young Carers Team – Family Solutions Service and other relevant agencies, on a need to know basis, with the consent of the young carer, their families or designated safeguarding lead.

All pupils will be made aware of the designated lead and

• We will provide young carers with opportunities to speak to someone in private, and will not discuss their situation in front of their peers

• We appreciate that young carers will not discuss their family situation unless they feel comfortable. The young person’s caring role will be acknowledged and respected.

• We will treat young carers in a sensitive and child-centred way, upholding confidentiality.

• We will ensure young carers can access all available support services in school.

• We will follow child protection procedures regarding any young carer at risk of significant harm due to inappropriate levels of caring.

• We will promote discussion and learning in all areas of the curriculum to facilitate fuller understanding, acceptance of and respect for, the issues surrounding illness, disability and caring.

Cambrian Learning Trust recognises that flexibility may be needed when responding to the needs of young carers. Available provision includes (but is not limited to):

• Access to a telephone during breaks and lunchtime, to phone home,

• Negotiable deadlines for homework (when needed),

• Access to homework clubs (where these are available),

• Arrangements for schoolwork to be sent home, with the Principles discretion, if a crisis situation arises. Any approved absence for a young carer will be time limited (DfES 2006),

• Access for parents with impaired mobility,

• Alternative communication options for parents who are sensory impaired or housebound,

• Advice to parents if there are difficulties in transporting a young carer to school.