Resources and support for education professionals

Join our Education Networks! We coordinate two free education networks for settings to develop their identification and support for young carers and young people affected by substance misuse in the family.:

• A Young Carers Schools Network (YCSN) for schools and other services working directly with children and young people.

• A Young Carers Post-16 Network for colleges and sixth forms.

Other services who work directly with children and young people are also welcome to join either network.

Membership gives you access to free training, specific guidance, awareness-raising, identification and support resources, and termly meetings to share practice with other education settings across the city. Find out more here.

Resources: Aside from our resources available by joining our Schools Network, you can find lots of websites and resources to support young carers and young people affected by familial substance misuse here.

Education Development Worker: Shuna Beckett is SYC’s Education Development Worker. Her role is to help professionals identify and support young carers in schools, colleges, APs and universities across Sheffield. If you have any questions, please contact Shuna.

Changes to the School census: Since 2023, there is a Young Carer indicator on the Spring schools’ census return for all schools (not nurseries). This indicator records whether the pupil has been identified as a young carer and by whom. Find out more here.

In the 2024-25 census, only 0.8% of the student population were recorded as young carers, and 69% of schools declared that the had NO young carers. The figures for Sheffield reflect this national trend. We know this simply isn’t true (a BBC study in 2024 estimated that 1 in 10 young people are taking on mid to high levels of care, and that there are 1 million young carers in the UK, yet the school census has recorded under 65,000 in England).

Useful resources:

• MYTIME Young Carers Management Information System Guidance for recording young carers

• Young carers and the school census: Comms pack for schools

• Young carers and the schools census: Briefing Sheet - Governors

Educational Transitions: Moving schools can be a difficult time, especially for vulnerable pupils like young carers. SYC has produced this information-sharing document that can help settings to ensure that information about young carers is communicated between settings.

Network members also have access to further resources on supporting young carers through transitions. Find out more here.

Young Carer Policy: All schools/ colleges should have a policy in place that recognises the needs of young carers and outlines how the setting will identify and address these needs.  

Sheffield Young Carers has created a template policy for schools and colleges in Sheffield to adapt in accordance with what works well for your environment. The policy has been endorsed by Sheffield Children’s Safeguarding Team (and can be found on their website here).  

Made by young carers: Young carers have produced some fantastic tools for education staff to help you understand more about them and the issues they face.

1. The pressures of caring - listen to young people’s voices

2. Simple but great ways that schools/colleges have supported us

3. Young Carers Identification Guide - a tool for education staff (Word or PDF)

4. Young carers and education (film)

5. Top Tips for Identifying and Supporting Young Carers in Education during Covid-19 (some tips are still relevant!)

Young Carers Register for Sheffield: Sheffield City Council has a register for young carers living in the city. You can find more details here.

Learning through Caring: Children's University credits for learning through caring responsibilities: In acknowledgment of the barriers that many young carers face to accessing Children’s University (CU) activities, young carers can receive 1 CU credit per week in recognition of learning and skills development that takes place through their caring responsibilities. Click here for full details.

Locality working: Our staff work in localities to support young people who are referred to our service. (Please note: If we have staff absence, workers may have to cover different localities). Please see the list below to find out which workers are linked to your school. You can see photos of our staff here.

Greater Reach, Brighter Futures Project: In 2024, SYC completed a targeted piece of work alongside eight education providers across Sheffield for two years to improve the identification and support for young carers within their education settings. This work was supported by the Education Opportunities Foundation.

Thank you to the following education providers who participated in the project: Dobcroft Junior School, Firth Park Academy, Hartley Brook Academy, Lowfield Primary School, Oasis Fir Vale Academy, Phillimore Community Primary School, Rainbow Forge Primary Academy, University of Sheffield.

Take a look at our schools summary report and our University of Sheffield summary report and watch our film!