Pastoral Support

Young Carers

Pupils who fulfil a caring role at home often have many additional responsibilities aside from school. A young carer may be:

• Looking after a parent, sibling or other relative.
• Providing physical, emotional or social support.
• Looking after someone with a physical illness, disability, learning difficulty or a mental health condition.

At John Blandy, we understand that these additional responsibilities mean that pupils who are young carers sometimes need some extra support to help them thrive and succeed at school. Because of this, John Blandy has a lead member of staff for young carers who co-ordinates the following support for students:

• 1 on 1 support including assessmentand a safe space to talk about their responsibilities
• Liaising with teachers and other staff in school where necessary about a students caring role to help them with things like homework and access to extracurricular activities.
• Support and help with funding in order to access extracurricular opportunities or improve a student’s wellbeing.
• Signposting and referring to Spurgeons, the Abingdon hub and other young carers services.
• Awareness raising activities across the whole school through assemblies, the Young Carers display board and PSHE classes.

John Blandy is developing close links with young carers services including Spurgeons and the Abingdon Hub to provide the best possible support to pupils in and out of school.

We aim to understand and meet the needs of pupils who fulfil a caring role at home and encourage parents/carers to let us know if their child is a young carer.

If your child might be a young carer please contact Mrs Conroy, via the school office. Pupils can also self-refer to the service.