Young Carers

We are very lucky to work with Essex Young Carers who support many of our families.

A young carer is someone under 18 and who looks after someone in their family who is ill (physically or mentally) or disabled and we know that many of our families experience this.

If you feel that your child is a young carer, please contact the Owlets Wellbeing Team who will be happy to support you to access the service.

Please find below a link to the Essex Local Offer information page with more details:

Young carers | Essex County Council

https://www.essex.gov.uk/adult-social-care-and-health/support-carers/young-carers

Identifying and supporting young carers at Barnes Farm Primary School

We are committed to ensuring that all children get the support they need to have a positive school experience, are happy in school and can achieve their full potential.

We know that for some children, factors outside of school can have a big impact on this, particularly if there is someone in their family or a friend who is ill, disabled, or has a mental health problem or an addiction. We think in every class there could be as many as 2 pupils who are helping to support someone because of one of these factors – we call these students young carers.

Children can be young carers for lots of different reasons:

• They might be providing physical support to a parent with a physical illness such as fibromyalgia or ME, such as cooking, fetching things or helping with things like putting shoes on or doing the shopping
• They might be helping a parent with a disability who needs help with more personal tasks such as getting dressed, bathing or changing dressings
• Or it could be more emotional support – like being there if their autistic sibling is upset, taking responsibility for young siblings whilst parents attend health appointments, or checking that a parent with depression/anxiety is ok.

Some young carers might be doing lots of caring, others just a small amount but are impacted by the situation at home for example by worrying about the person with the health condition, or needing to do more things for themselves compared to other students.

There is lots of support available for young carers and their families should they ever need it – both inside and outside of school. 

Our Owlets Wellbeing Team are always available to discuss how we can support your child, and will access external agencies if needed to ensure that we offer the best possible support.  It may be that we can support with accessing home learning, signposting to financial support or offering wellbeing/mental health support for our young carers.

If you think that any of the above applies to your child, and that they might possibly be a young carer then please contact Mrs Robinson or Mrs Webb.

Even if you feel your child or family are doing really well and don’t need any support, we find that it’s better for us to be aware and have them on our radar as potential young carers, in case the situation suddenly changes and they (or you) do need support. It just means that you and your child don’t have to start from scratch with letting us know what is going on if things have become difficult.

We will always do our best to help in any way that we can.