Swalwell Primary School
Working together, learning together
Welcome
Young Carers
Young Carer’s Whole School Commitment
- Swalwell Primary School is committed to meeting the needs of young carers so that they can attend and enjoy school in the same way as other pupils/students and achieve their potential.
- Swalwell Primary School has a designated Young Carers’ School Lead with responsibility for young carers and their families. Pupils and families are aware of how to contact young carers champions via notice boards and our school website.
- Swalwell Primary School only shares information with professionals and agencies on a need to know basis in order to support pupils and their families.
- Swalwell Primary School actively seeks feedback and ideas from young carers and their families to shape and improve support.
- Swalwell Primary School uses Pupil Premium funding to minimise any barriers to education and learning experienced by eligible young carers.
- Swalwell Primary School has an effective referral system and strong partnership in place with relevant external agencies, including the school nurse and the local young carers’ service.
Mrs Hocking ( Head Teacher)
Are you a Young Carer?
A Young Carer is someone under the age of 18 who has caring responsibilities for a family member at home.
They may have:
- A serious or long-term illness
- A physical disability
- A mental health problem
- Problems with drugs or alcohol
- A learning disability
- Difficulties in coping with being a parent or carer
Young Carers may carry out tasks and household jobs like:
- Preparing and cooking food
- Helping with personal care and hygiene
- Giving medication
- Communicating on someone’s behalf
- Ensuring someone’s safety
- Providing emotional support
- Paying bills
If you are a Young Carer, doing some of these tasks might make it hard for you to come to school or affect your ability to focus and concentrate to the best of their ability when you are here.
You may:
- Be regularly late for school or have poor attendance
- Often seem tired, withdrawn or preoccupied
- Have difficulty in joining in activities outside of school hours (e.g. after school clubs or residential visits)
- Be a victim of bullying or have difficulties forming friendships
- Be under-achieving academically
- Not hand in homework
- Appear anxious and worried
- Display emotional or behavioural problems
- Have physical problems such as back pain from lifting adults
As a Young Carer, you might also:
- find that you can't go out with your friends
- be confused or angry about the situation at home
- have problems at school because of your reponsibilities at home
- feel alone and unable to talk to anyone about your situation
- need help with the caring
SUPPORT:
At Swalwell Primary, we want to ensure all Young Carers are offered support.
We seek to raise awareness of this issue so that any child acting as Young Carers can be identified and supported. Pupils already identified as Young Carers know that they can speak to any member of staff if they feel they need extra support.
Key Staff
