St Machar Academy - Young Carers

Young Carers

We recognise that a number of our young people may undertake additional caring responsibilities to support their family. A Young Carer is someone under 18 years of age, or is 18 years old but still at school, who provides unpaid help and support to a relative, friend or neighbour who due to illness or disability cannot manage to live independently without their help. Some children and young people will have small caring roles , and some will have big caring roles. You might share this caring role with another sibling or other Young Carers or an adult carer.

If a young person identifies themselves as undertaking caring responsibilities they should speak with their Principal Teacher of Guidance (PTG). They may suggest you create a Young Person's Statement which will help you identify your caring responsibilities and possible supports.

Partnerships

St Machar Academy's Young Carers Strategy is supported by the Local Library Service and Barnardo's Aberdeen. You can also keep up to date with the work of our Young Carers by following their Twitter feed @StCarers

Young Carers Group

Our Young Carer groups have been running for two years and taken part in a range of projects, in and out of school. This includes the Young Carer Awareness Day.

Currently we run weekly groups for young people who identify as Young Carers. The young people report they find the group gives therm some time in school to discuss any issues they are facing and also to have a time where there is less pressure on them. The groups provide a safe place where they are free to discuss any concerns.

"Young Carers" is delivered at St Machar Academy by Mrs Bonner in small groups weekly/monthly for a TIME minute session, throughout the school year.

Programme Content

Sessions include:

Rights and responsibilities of a young carer
Supports available to young carers
Creation of a Young Carer's Statement
Health and Wellbeing - we work in close partnership with Mr Sangster from Active Schools
Mental Health
Project based work - an example of this is our Lighthouse Project as part of Clan's Light the North Trail
Working closely with Barnardos on areas such as funding, medical and mental health support for either young people or their family members
Support from Skills Development Scotland around caring role post school and support available

Mrs Bonner

Aims

The aims of this programme is to provide appropriate support for Young Carers attending school in a group where they feel safe, understood and able to discuss their issues, concerns and take some time away from their responsibilities.

Criteria

During PSE in S1, young people take part in a lesson about Young Carers. At the end of this lesson, pupils can highlight if they think this applies to them. There are noticeboards in school explaining what a Young Carer is and how to refer. Pupils can self-refer through their Guidance Teacher. The definition of a young carer is:

A Young Carer is someone under the age of 18 or is 18 years old but still at school, who provides unpaid help and support to a relative, friend or neighbour who due to illness or disability cannot manage to live independently without their help. Some children and young people will have small caring roles, and some will have big caring roles. You might share this caring role with another sibling or other young carer or adult carer.

Measured Impact

Impact will be measured by:

pupils feel supported appropriately in school
pupils will have a trusted adult to approach regarding concerns
staff will be able to implement appropriate strategies for young people
school will be a positive young carer friendly environment
attendance and progress are monitored and support offered where necessary