The Blandford School have been working with Dorset based charity, MYTIME Young Carers, since 2021 to support students in the school who have caring responsibilities at home.
DEFINITION OF A YOUNG CARER
A young carer is a child or young person who is helping to look after someone at home. They may care for a parent, a sibling, grandparent or other relative. In some instances, a young carer may care for more than one family member. The person they look after will be living with one or more of the following:
- a) physical disability (including sensory impairment)
- b) learning disability
- c) mental health condition
- d) long-term illness
- e) substance use disorder
Work we have done with MYTIME young carers
MYTIME Young Carers have supported and advised us on our young carers policy and have already trained the team of Young Carer Champions on how to identify and support young carers in our school. We are hoping by the end of academic year 2022/23 that all staff will have received this training. MYTIME have also helped us identify young carers through letters sent home and have delivered assemblies to every year group.
How we have supported our young carers
We have created a young carers group that meets every other week. This group has helped young carers in our school meet other students with similar home circumstances thereby reducing the feelings of isolation that many young carers experience. In this group they have swapped recipe ideas, had a talk from a former young carer about her experiences and generally got to know each other.
In November 2021, to celebrate Carers’ Rights Day, ten of our young carers were invited on a Memories Making Day with MYTIME to Adventure Pirates. During the day, the students got to do archery, axe throwing and fire lighting. These days are aimed at giving young carers much needed breaks from their caring responsibilities.
Four of our young carers have completed MYTIME’s Employability Programme. In this programme, young carers work with MYTIME to explore career opportunities that might interest them, produce a professional CV and develop interview skills.
Additional support
Our very own Dan Johnson won Young Carer Champion of the term for his dedication to young carers at The Blandford School and for working closely with the MYTIME team. Additionally, he attended MYTIME’s first ever education summit at Bournemouth University and has come back with lots of ideas on how to further support young carers in our school.
Finally, as a school we are very proud of our staff who completed the Three Peaks Challenge to raise money for MYTIME Young Carers to be able to take these incredible young people out on Memory Making Days.
We are looking forward to continuing our work with MYTIME Young Carers and supporting these amazing young people to fulfil their potential.