Young Carers


Making school count for


young carers


Michelle Dale discusses the importance of supporting young carers and explains how her primary school is making a difference for those pupils who have caring responsibilities


I


have been working at Harpur Mount Primary School now for 11 years, and have been safeguarding and equality champion for the past two years. This role includes leading on child protection. Harpurhey in north Manchester is quite a deprived area; around 60


per cent of pupils in our school qualify for free school meals. Harpur Mount caters for children from the ages of three to 11, and, despite the many challenges the area faces, the children who attend our school are an absolute joy to teach. As part of my role, I work with colleagues to ensure that all our pupils


get the best start in life and are able to enjoy and thrive in school. However, some groups of vulnerable pupils need extra support to be able to do this. Young carers are one such group. A young carer is a young person between the age of fi ve and 18 who


cares for a parent or sibling with a physical or mental health diffi culty or a parent who has problems with substance misuse. Research shows that 13 per cent of fi ve to 10-year-olds could be missing


school or experiencing educational diffi culties because of caring roles. Young carers often carry out a range of household tasks such as shopping, washing, paying bills, reading letters for parents, cooking, cleaning and laundry, as well as nursing tasks such as administering medication or providing personal care such as washing or dressing. Many also provide emotional support and reassurance to the person they


care for. We have been working with the voluntary sector in Manchester to make sure young carers get the opportunity to get on in school, just like their peers. I fi rst became aware of children with caring responsibilities after being


asked to support Kevin (not his real name) a young boy aged eight. Kevin was struggling in school due to the problems he faced in his


home life. His mum’s mental health issues were having an impact on his schooling. His attendance was not as good as it should have been. His mum’s mental health diffi culties made it really hard for him to get out of the house and get to school because he was too worried to leave her alone.


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To get extra support in place for Kevin, I contacted Family Action, a charity which is commissioned by Manchester City Council to provide a city-wide service to support young carers and their parents. Family Action assessed Kevin’s needs and provided a lot of activities for


him which helped to raise his self-esteem and confi dence. He would come into school and readily talk about what he had been doing, whether it be group work or football, and it gave him something to focus on other than the problems at home.


“Research shows that 13 per cent of fi ve to 10-year-olds could be missing school or experiencing educational diffi culties because of caring roles”


Family Action worked to support his mother and through working


together the family circumstances changed and his attendance and wellbeing greatly improved. We helped him understand and feel more comfortable and able to leave his mum. That was my fi rst experience interacting with a young carer and it


highlighted to me the particular vulnerabilities these young people face and the importance of ensuring they have the right support in and outside the classroom. Working with Family Action has helped me to identify children who


have a caring role more readily. I can always ask them for advice or refer a family to them. For primary school children, signs to help identify young carers might include attendance issues. They could be quite often late for school, their appearance in school might not be as it should, and sometimes children may be tired or have absences mainly after a weekend. Other indicators are their emotional state coming into school or sometimes they


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