Step 5

Supporting Young Carers in Schools

Step 5

Acknowledging Young Carers in Principal School Documents

Resource title: Supporting young Carers in School
Published: 2022 Author: Carers Trust

It is vital that schools acknowledge young carers in their principal school documents and proactively communicate these to pupils, families and staff. Doing so will support the creation of a whole school ethos where young carers and their families are respected and valued. It will also provide clarity about the roles and responsibilities of school staff in relation to young carers, and the type of support available to pupils and their families. To achieve these benefits, schools will need to take a number of key actions:

Develop a whole school commitment for young carers.
Develop a school policy for young carers.
Revise existing policy and documents to reflect young carers’ needs.

Don’t forget

Schools will be at different stages in their journey to supporting young carers effectively and you should have identified which of these actions you intend to prioritise when reviewing your school’s provision (see Step 2).

A whole school commitment for young carers and their families

The Young Carers in Schools programme supports schools to adopt a whole school approach to identifying and supporting young carers (see Step 1: Gaining an understanding about young carers).
All schools should have a whole school commitment for young carers and their families in place that:

Captures the value that the school places on meeting young carers’ needs.
Summarises the school’s approach to supporting this vulnerable pupil group.
Reflects safeguarding requirements.

This commitment should be clear, engaging and succinct so that it can be:

Displayed on the school website, prospectus, staff intranet and staff and pupil noticeboards.
Referred to in school assemblies, governor meetings and annual reports.

When proactively communicated in these ways, it will:

Ensure that prospective pupils and families are aware that the school recognises the needs of young carers and actively responds to meet their needs.
Help young carers and/or their families feel safe and confident to access support.

The specific information that schools will need to capture in the commitment will depend on the extent of the school’s wider provision for young carers. See Step 5, Tool 1: Recommended points to include in a whole school commitment.

Developing a whole-school commitment will help your school achieve the Bronze level of the Young Carers in Schools Award.

School policy for young carers

To meet young carers’ needs more effectively, schools should also have a policy in place that specifies in greater detail how the school will identify and address young carers’ needs. This can either take the form of a new policy developed specifically for young carers, or the revision of an existing policy to include young carers, such as the school inclusion policy.

Developing a school policy, in addition to a whole school commitment to young carers, will provide greater clarity about:

The roles and responsibilities of school staff in relation to young carers.
The type of support available to pupils and their families in school.
The ways in which the school works with other organisations, including the local young carers service, school nurse and emotional wellbeing support, in relation to young carers.

The specific information that schools will need to capture in the commitment will depend on the extent of the school’s wider provision for young carers. Step 5, Tool 2: Young carers school policy checklist, sets out the points that should be covered in school policy.

Revising existing policy

To ensure a consistent approach to meeting the needs of this vulnerable pupil group across the whole school, you should also ensure young carers’ needs are reflected in a broader range of existing school policies and documents. (See Step 5, Tool 3: Checklist of other principal documents which should reference young carers.)

Incorporating pupil views

To best meet the needs of young carers, you should gather and incorporate the views of young carers when developing and reviewing your whole school commitment and school policies.

Gathering and utilising the views of young carers will help schools achieve the Silver level of the Young Carers in Schools Award.

Don’t forget

When establishing links with members of staff responsible for the development and revision of other school documents, the Young Carers School Operational Lead will need to ensure they understand:

That many pupils attending their school have caring responsibilities and therefore have specific needs for which the school should be making adequate provision (see Step 1: Gaining an understanding about young carers).
What they need to do in their role to support the development and implementation of a whole school approach to identifying and supporting young carers.