Henley Green Young Carers Statement

Henley Green is committed to supporting young carers’ emotional, educational and personal development to enable them to aspire and achieve in education regardless of complexities of their personal needs and home circumstances.

What is a Young Carer?

A young Carer is someone under the age of 18 who has caring responsibilities for a family member at home who may have:

• A serious or long term illness
• A physical disability
• A mental health problem
• A drug or alcohol dependency
• A learning disability

Young Carers may carry out tasks and household chores such as:

• 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

At Henley Green we recognise that taking on such a role may have a negative impact on a pupil and can also affect their education. Young Carers may:

• Be regularly late for school or have poor attendance
• may often seem tired, withdrawn or preoccupied
• Have difficulty in joining in activities outside of school hours (e.g. after school clubs or residential visits)
• Could 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

We have identified a lead member of staff who is responsible for directly supporting Young Carers in school, this is Mrs Rouse. Pupils are also aware that they can speak to any member of staff if they feel that they are a Young Carer and would benefit from extra support.

A policy has been written which outlines the support we will provide for pupils identified as Young Carers.

Our Young Carers' noticeboard has information about the support we provide for Young Carers in school.

Young Carers can access services provided by the Carers' Trust in Coventry. For more information please visit the Coventry Young Carers’ Trust website below.

Young Carers Activities

We have activities every term for our Young Carers: these have included Movie Nights, a games night and a cooking afternoon. In the Summer our Young Carers enjoyed an after school Forest School activity and a BBQ. Our year 5 and Year 6 Young Carers then camped overnight on the school grounds.