We want to say a big ‘thank you’ to Heacham Junior School on receiving our Carer Friendly Tick Award – Education. The award is in recognition of their work to ensure young people within their school who help to look after a family member are given the support they need to be able to thrive despite the challenges they face. Carer friendly schools can make a huge difference to the lives of young carers.
Nina Taylor, Young Carers Lead at Heacham Junior School, said the school was ‘thrilled’ to receive the Carer Friendly Tick Award – Education and added: “We applied for the award with the ambition of supporting staff in identifying young carers within our organisation and equipping them with the tools to signpost them to the best possible support, to prevent isolation and promote equal opportunities for all.
“This work has meant that staff are well trained and young carers in our school have benefitted from opportunities to interact with other pupils who are going through similar experiences. They have also received appropriate provision and advice.”
On behalf of Caring Together, a panel of carers assessed the submission from the school. They were particularly impressed by the school;
- having a young carers champion that is also involved in anti-bullying work and has completed youth mental health training;
- involving young carers involved in the development of a young carers agreement;
- ensuring staff took part in young carers awareness training provided by Caring Together.
Belinda Jones, Awareness and Voice Team Manager at Caring Together, said, “It’s wonderful to see another school in Norfolk be recognised for the work they are doing to support the young carers in their setting. It is so important that young carers know what they can expect from their school in terms of support. Well done to all at Heacham Junior School for achieving our Carer Friendly Tick accreditation.
The Carer Friendly Tick Award was originally developed for education by young carers from Caring Together’s Norfolk Young Carers Forum (NYCF) project. The success of this meant the awards have been rolled out across Norfolk, Peterborough and Cambridgeshire and now includes community, health and employer organisations. The awards recognise the important role organisations have to play in ensuring carers of all ages are recognised and given the support they need.
For more information about the Carer Friendly Tick Awards and how your organisation can support carers see caringtogether.org/carer-friendly-tick or email [email protected].
