Young Carers
At King’s Oak Academy we provide a warm and caring environment for all our students. Young people learn best when they are safe, happy and well cared for and staff at King’s Oak provide outstanding care and guidance. Mrs Bryant is a member of our administrative team, and one of our Mental Health First Aiders, and is confident in supporting our Young Carers, who may be experiencing difficulties that are affecting their learning and progress.
Are you a Young Carer?
You may be looking after a parent or another relative, like a sister or brother.
You may be looking after someone because:
- they are disabled,
- they have a long-term illness,
- they misuse drugs or alcohol,
- or because someone else is finding it hard to cope with being a parent or carer.
As a young carer you may:
- find that you are not able to go out with your friends,
- be confused or angry about the situation at home,
- be having difficulties at school because of your responsibilities at home,
- feel alone and unable to talk to anyone about your situation,
- need help with the caring.
How can we help support our students?
School can be difficult if you are struggling to look after someone at home. The most important thing to do is to talk to Mrs Bryant or your Head of Year about your situation.
Help could include:
- giving you extra time to hand in homework,
- letting you phone home without having to explain why each time,
- making allowances for lateness or attendance difficulties,
- doing detentions during school time so that you can get home to look after someone,
- helping your parents get to parents’ evenings or liaise with teachers to phone home if they have trouble leaving the house,
- not asking you about your home life when other people are listening,
- helping you if you are getting bullied.
