Young Carers in Schools. Step 3: Securing Commitment of School Leaders

This step, taken from Supporting Young Carers in Schools: A Step-by-step Guide for Leaders, Teachers and Non-teaching Staff, provides key information and tools to help you gain the commitment of your school leaders to identify and support young carers.

Effective identification and support of young carers in schools requires the development of a whole school approach where young carers and their families feel safe and confident to access support.

It is therefore vital that your senior leadership team (SLT) and governing body understand young carer issues and are committed to meeting their needs. 

Key points

What do school leaders need to know?

• How the identification and support of young carers forms part of their wider roles and responsibilities
• Why the commitment of school governors and senior leadership teams is vital to effective identification and support of young carers in schools.  main contact for young carers.

To find out more about the securing the commitment of your school leaders download Step 3: Securing Commitment of School Leaders

This step is taken from Supporting Young Carers in Schools: A Step-by-step Guide for Leaders, Teachers and Non-Teaching Staff. The steps from this guide are designed to be used in order.

Tools

Tools available to support you to secure the commitment of a school governing body and senior leadership team include:

• Step 3, Tool 1: Young Carers Senior Leadership Team Lead duties checklist
• Step 3, Tool 2: Exemplar introductory letter to governors
• Step 3,Tool 3: Role and responsibilities of a governing body
• Step 3, Tool 4: Checklist to support governing bodies evaluate effectiveness
• Step 3, Tool 5: Targeting pupil premium support to young carers.

What to do next

Once you have secured the commitment of your school leaders, go to Step 4: Introducing a Young Carers School Operational Lead.