An update from Portsmouth Young Carers Service

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Young carers will become an identifiable group on the school census from spring 2023. Their inclusion will have potential benefits for young carers and schools, which could include:

  • A greater understanding of the number of young carers in a school, in local areas and nationally.
  • Opportunities to raise awareness and improve support for young carers in schools.
  • Using data to consider whether attendance, exclusions etc. vary between young carers and their peers.
  • Using data to help identify where support could be targeted and reviewing interventions to see if they have had the desired impact.
  • Improved liaison and support for young carers at key transition points.
  • The inclusion of young carers as a pupil premium group in the future.

What can schools do to prepare for this change?

  • Ensure an inclusive, ‘whole-school approach’ that has ‘young carers’, ‘illness’ and ‘disability’ permanently in everyone’s thoughts and ‘agendas’.
  • Provide a range of young carers awareness-raising activities and information, that it highlighted to all staff, pupils, and parents.
  • Ensure that systems and processes are in place to identify young carers and to help ensure that their needs are being met sensitively and effectively.

The Children’s Commissioner for England in their ‘Voices of England’s Missing Children’ Attendance Audit publication (June 2020) recommends that all schools should have a Young Carers Policy, which includes the ‘voices’ of young carers and a named Young Carers Champion.

Our service offers a range of free ‘young carers’ support for all Portsmouth schools to help them prepare for this important change, through the following:

  • Bespoke young carers awareness raising training. We recommend that this is offered to all staff and governors, irrespective of their roles and responsibilities. Sessions can be tailored to meet the different needs of teams within a school.
  • Assemblies to raise awareness of young carers, the amazing and sometimes challenging responsibilities they may have, and the impact these could have. The assemblies also signpost young carers to support in school and from our service.
  • Providing a ‘School Census’ focus at this terms young carers school and college network meeting. Two (repeated) sessions are being held on:
    • Tuesday 18 October 2022 from 2pm – 3pm on MS Teams
    • Wednesday 19 October 2022 from 3.45pm – 4.45pm on MS Teams
  • Emailing key young carers updates and information from our service and other organisations to our ‘young carer link’ in every Portsmouth school.

The Young Carers Alliance is also offering schools and other professionals the opportunity to attend a Young Carers and the School Census forum on Wednesday 11 November 2022. Book your place here.

If you or a colleague would like to book onto a young carers school/college network meeting, to find out more about our training and assembly offer, or ask us any other questions, please contact us using our shared email address: [email protected]