The Children’s Society
c/o Whitecross Studios
50 Banner Street
London
EC1Y 8ST
Supporting Young Carers in Schools
Step 7
Raising Awareness of School Staff about Young Carers
Resource title: Supporting young Carers in School
Published: 2022 Author: Carers Trust
To meet the needs of young carers in your school, it is vital that all school staff:
It is important that all staff members (teaching and non-teaching) understand young carer issues because:
Young Carers School Operational Leads should prioritise how they intend to raise the awareness of pupils and their families when reviewing their school’s provision (see Step 2: Reviewing your school’s provision for young carers).
In summary, schools beginning to develop their young carers’ provision may initially wish to raise awareness by developing and maintaining young carer material on a staff noticeboard and the intranet and/or shared drive.
This material should contain:
To secure proactive staff commitment, this material should be endorsed by the Senior Leadership Team.
Staff training should cover:
To ensure training effectively raises school staff’s understanding and confidence in how to meet young carers’ needs, it is important that the Young Carers School Operational Lead evaluates the impact of training in their school.
Training resources, accompanying this Step-by-step Guide include:
The purpose of these tools is to support the Young Carers School Operational Lead to deliver training in their school. Outside agencies, such as a local young carers service, may also be able to provide support with staff training or deliver the training themselves. Your school might want to consider inviting other professionals working in your school to join training sessions and even share training with other schools in the same school cluster or multi-academy trust.
During training sessions, staff may identify themselves as carers and highlight their own support needs. It would be useful to make information available to adult carers, such as the Carers Trust website (Carers.org), local carers support information and the NHS Carers Direct helpline
(0300 123 1053).
The Children’s Society
c/o Whitecross Studios
50 Banner Street
London
EC1Y 8ST
© 2022 Young Carers in Schools