At Robin Hood, we define a Young Carer as anyone who:

Regularly looks after a family member who has a serious illness, disability, mental illness or substance misuse problem. This person may be a sibling, a parent or a member of their extended family.

We also recognise that children and young people may also have additional caring responsibilities in the shorter term e.g. when a family member is in hospital or receiving treatment over a period of time.

When a child or young person looks after someone in their home or extended family on a long term or temporary basis, he or she may need extra support and understanding in order to gain the most from their time at school.

However, we also recognise that Young Carers have a right to privacy and will listen to and respect the individual Young Carers’ views about the extent to which they would like to be supported – be this great or small.

How we identify a Young Carer

Whilst we wish to be proactive in supporting our Young Carers and their families, we recognise that some families may wish to keep their situation private. However, by bringing the issue of Young carers to the fore, we hope to encourage them to come forward and thus benefit from any strategies we are able to put in place.

We seek to identify our Young Carers in the following ways:

• On entry to the school – through discussion with families and through liaison with previous schools

• Having open relationships with our pupils and doing all we can to know them (and their families) well

• Following up information shared by other agencies

• Awareness raising assemblies and items in newsletters e.g. during Young Carers’ Week

How we support Young Carers and their families

We have a Designated Teacher for Young Carers. They are the Young Carers' main point of contact, offering support and guidance as required and they will alert staff to the needs of our Young Carers as appropriate. They can also put Young Carers and their families in touch with local agencies and support groups.

We will also offer support to the families of Young Carers in order to help them to support their children in school as far as it is possible to do so.

Where a Young Carer is concerned about a family member, a member of SLT make contact with home as appropriate. We ask families about any special access requirements and are happy to make adaptations in order to allow caring families or families where illness or disability is an issue to access different aspects of school life e.g consultation evenings, plays and sporting events.

How we help support our staff with training

All staff have received awareness training on Young Carers.

This included:

• How to identify Young Carers

• How their caring roles can impact on their ability to participate fully in school. (Lateness or poor attendance, problems with concentration, under-achievement, tiredness , anxiety, inability to attend extra-curricular activities)

• The potential for social isolation or bullying

• Making reasonable and supportive adaptations

• Difficulties in engaging parents e.g via consultation evenings

• Staff are aware of the co-ordinator’s roles for Young Carers and the ways in which they can signpost support as required

Staff will be updated on how to support Young Carers on a regular basis

How we try and make others aware of Young Carers

The school works to identify Young Carers, including a full school assembly looking at the experiences of Young Carers. We feature Young Carers’ via assemblies, our school newsletter and other activities. These help to make other children and their families aware of some of the circumstances facing Young Carers and their families and the need for us to put our school values into practice in order to be understanding and supportive. E.g. cooperation, friendliness, respect. The children also do work in their PSHE lessons about looking after members of their families and what is it like to be a Young Carer. 

Other agencies

We recognise the importance of working together in partnership with other agencies e.g. Sutton Young Carers in order to provide personalised support for Young Carers and their families inside and outside of school.

How we monitor our protocol

The Learning and Attainment Committee of the Governing Body will receive updates on the number of Young Carers in school and ways in which they are supported.