Young Carers in Schools. Step 6: Setting up Systems to Identify, Assess and Support Young Carers

This step, taken from Supporting Young Carers in Schools: A Step-by-step Guide for Leaders, Teachers and Non-teaching Staff, helps schools to set up systems to identify and support this vulnerable pupil group.

To help ensure no young carer slips through the net, schools need to take a proactive approach to identifying and supporting young carers. 

All schools should ensure they have agreed procedures in place in place to identify, assess, support and refer young carers and their families.

Key points

• Step 6: Setting up Systems to Identify, Assess and Support Young Carers, provides key information about the different systems schools can implement to meet young carers' needs effectively.  
• It aims to make it as easy as possible for schools to prioritise which systems they will implement next, by categorising the systems into:  
  • The basics
  •  Beyond the basics
  • Best practice

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 

•  Step 6, Tool 1: Checklist of support young carers may need
• Step 6, Tool 2: Running a peer support group for young carers
• Step 6, Tool 3: Exemplar hand out for pupils to complete and post into a message box
• Step 6, Tool 4: How to run a young carers forum
• Step 6, Tool 5: Working with school nurses to support young carers and their families
• Step 6, Tool 6: Working in partnership with young carers services
• Step 6, Tool 7: Checklist for effective partnership working between schools and young carers services
• Step 6, Tool 8: Exemplar working together agreement for use with young carers services
• Step 6, Tool 9: Supporting young carers to participate post-16
• Step 6, Tool 10:Supporting young carers to transition into adulthood
• Step 6, Tool 11: Checklist of support that families of young carers may need

What to do next

Once you have set up processes to identify, assess and support young carers, go to Step 7: Raising awareness of school staff about young carers.