The Young Carers in Schools Programme
Young Carers often remain hidden even to their schools, and it is not unusual for some to take on excessive and inappropriate caring roles within the family home. Where this happens school attendance and educational performance frequently suffer.
Sefton Carers Centre (SCC) has entered into a long-term partnership with The Carers Trust and the Children’s Society in order to support any school in Sefton that wishes to deliver the Young Carers in Schools Programme, (YCiSP).
YCiSP is a free England –wide initiative that helps schools to identify and support young carers with the intention of:
- Giving children the best start in life
- Raising educational attainment
- Improving life chances
Why should schools in Sefton take part?
The programme enables schools to:
- Gain national recognition for raising outcomes for young carers through the Young Carers in Schools Award.
- Demonstrate to Ofsted that your school is meeting the needs of young carers, specifically mentioned in the Common Inspection Framework 2015.
- Identify manageable steps to improve educational outcomes for this vulnerable pupil group – the programme breaks down the actions schools can take so that your school can prioritise what to do next.
- Access additional support from Sefton Carers Centre including advice, tools, good practice examples, and direct support for young carers and their families.
SCC is working successfully with several Sefton’s schools to deliver the YCiSP. As a result many hidden young carers have been identified and they are now enjoying the benefits of the programme and additional support.
For example, Young Carer Lead at Greenbank, High School in Birkdale, Paula Caunce said;
“This year, with support from Sefton Carers Centre we have raised awareness of Young Carer issues throughout our school. As a result we have identified, and highlighted to staff a large number of previously hidden Young Carers, and are supporting them, and their families in a variety of ways tailored to their individual needs”.
SCC wishes to build upon this success and to work with schools and other partners to ensure that similar support is available to young carers in all of Sefton’s schools.
Our approach would be tailored to the needs of each individual school and we would work with nominated staff to;
- Identify vulnerable young carers
- Put appropriate support plans and activities in place
Adopting a ‘whole family approach‘ the Carers Centre would also work outside of school with other voluntary and statutory agencies to improve the circumstances of the families of each young carer with the expectation that this would reduce the caring responsibilities of the pupil.
Please contact us if you would like to discuss how service could work with your staff to Identify, Assess and Support the young carers attending your school/college.
Sefton Carers Centre
Telephone: 0151 288 6060
One of our young carers – Paige, was recently interviewed by BBC World Service for a programme about children cooking, Paige and mum discussed her love for food and cooking, and why it is part of her caring responsibilities at home. This programme was a fantastic way to raise some awareness for young carers and the things they have to learn and do in order to support people at home.
If you would like to listen to the radio programme, here is the link; https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct4v71
Raising greater awareness of the needs and experiences of young carers
If you wish to have a member of our team attend your school, service or organisation in order to deliver a short presentation about young carers, their needs and experiences then please contact Sefton Young Carers on 0151 288 6060 or email us, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
