Young Carers / Sibling Carer

School communities reflect society and so here at Alde Valley Academy our community includes people from a wide range of different backgrounds, cultures and ethnicities with varying experiences and vast responsibilities. One group of students for whom their home situation may influence their experience within the school, and all it has to offer, are Young Carers.

 A Young Carer is a student who is under 18 years old who helps to look after a family member; this may involve physical or emotional care, or taking responsibility for someone’s safety or well-being, this also includes substance abuse. However the level of responsibility assumed by a Young Carer is often inappropriate to their age at a level beyond simply helping with jobs at home, which is a normal part of growing up; as such it may impact on the education of the young person. This includes household chores that are usually completed by adults in the home over and above what a young person would be expected to assist with. This responsibility can impact on their education, missing days from school due to looking after the family member, sometimes getting behind with school work as they do not have the time to complete their school work due to their further responsibilities. This is where our Young Carer Leads can help to ensure that they get the necessary help and support in school with homework or assist them catching up with work they may have missed.

Also sibling carers, where a student looks after a younger sibling and provides ongoing practical, emotional or advocacy support for a disabled brother or sister

Suffolk Young Carers

Alde Valley Academy are signed up to the Suffolk Young Carers Schools Award and we have been working very closely with the service to help identify Young Carers in our school and raise awareness of the great work all Young Carers do for their families. We raise awareness of Young Carers in assemblies, staff training and larger National events such as National Young Carers Day in March each year. We were awarded our Bronze award in 2021 and our Platinum award in June 2026. We are one of only a handful of schools who has achieved this within the county and we are therefore mentoring other schools to assist young carers.

This year Suffolk Young Carers through Suffolk County Council have devised Young Carer Ambassadors.  These are Young Carers within the school who assist with the planning of activities for their group, update the webpage, update the Young Carer Notice Board and act as a liaison between Suffolk Young Carers, our leads and the Young Carers themselves.

Suffolk Young Carers staff have a close working relationship with schools across Suffolk. The Support Worker linked to Alde Valley who can come into the school to support Suffolk Young Carers is Sue Henry, alternatively students can contact either Mrs Dawes in school

This group of students have recently produced their own cookery book following a donation from Suffolk Community Freemasons and is on sale in school for £7 which can be purchased via MCAS app. 

We have also conducted some fun trips such as bowling and jump also supported by local businesses which we are profusely grateful for their support.

j.dawes@aldevalley.suffolk.sch.uk

Click here to view the Suffolk Young Carers websitehttps://suffolkfamilycarers.org/young-carers/ 

What to do if you are a Young Carer or Sibling Carer

If you are a Young Carer, please make yourself known to our Young Carer Lead - Mrs Dawes and she will be happy to include you in the activities we run inside and outside of school.  We meet in school time on Week 1 Tuesday lesson 2. We look forward to seeing you.

Awards

We are very proud to announce that we have been presented with both our Bronze and Silver Young Carers Awards and our Platinum award in June 2026. We are working on our Gold which is almost complete.