Why do schools need a Young Carers Champion?

In every school community, there are young people who take care of family members, like a parent or sibling, alongside going to classes – they’re called young carers.

These remarkable individuals often find themselves juggling looking after their loved ones with their schoolwork and other responsibilities. It’s a big responsibility that not everyone their age has to deal with.

The Centre 33 Young Carers Advisory Board, believe that every school should have someone who understands and helps young carers. That’s why they’ve written a letter to school headteachers in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. This letter, written by the young carers themselves, explains why having a Young Carers Champion at school is so important.

What is a Young Carers Champion?

A Young Carers Champion is like a special helper at school who understands and supports young people who take care of family members. They are someone you can talk to if you’re a young carer and need some extra help or someone to listen to you. The Young Carers Champion makes sure that young carers get the support they need at school and can connect them with organisations like Centre 33 if they need more help. They’re kind of like a superhero for young carers!

We’re asking schools to support young carers. All you need to do is copy and paste this email and send it to your school’s headteacher! You can write your own message to go with it or just use ours. Download the original letter to send it along with the text below.

Just copy, paste and send!

‘To the headteacher,

All over Cambridgeshire and Peterborough there is a rising issue regarding young carers in schools and colleges without a young carers champion.

To follow this, a young carer is statistically going to achieve four grades lower than other pupils who are not young carers taking their GCSEs or A-levels.

Every school needs a young carers champion. This is someone who is specifically trained to help identify, refer and support young carers who are attending the school or college. These champions are volunteers around school who do not get extra money to help young carers. Therefore the school funding does not get affected by having a champion in the first place.

To a young carer having a champion in schools/colleges makes a major difference to our lives. After a champion has been fully trained, young carers will finally have someone that understands what goes on in their lives to talk to and they can feel heard by teachers and other senior members of staff. Having a young carers champion means extra support regarding homework and class work like extensions and extra support in general.

For a young carer who hates going to school because of the lack of support that they receive, having a champion may lead to a rapid rise in their attendance as they will feel happier, safer and heard during the school day which will look good on records.

One of the largest issues that Young carers face in and out of school is mental health. The majority of young carers are diagnosed with mental health illness before they even reach the age of 16. 52% said they do ‘not often’ or ‘never’ get help from school or college to balance their work (carers trust 2022).

When being inspected by OFSTED, the inspector can ask what the school or college is doing to identify, refer and help support young carers and this would be marked under the “disadvantaged children” sector of the inspection. Also our legal right as young carers to be identified and offered a statutory young carers needs assignment, and how are schools and colleges meant to achieve this without a champion inside of school.

Overall, a Young Cares Champion is a vital aspect of our lives and wellbeing in and around school and college. We urge you to designate a trusted member of staff to help our cause and help us succeed at school and college.

Yours sincerely,

Phoebe, 16

Hartley, 13

Molly, 15

Connor, 17

Tom, 11

Ana, 12

Bethan, 12

Roisin, 13

Ashley, 13

– The  Young Carers Advisory Board

If you would like to find out more about Young Carers Champions and training, please reach out to youngcarerstraining@centre33.org.uk.

‍