Schools Awareness Raising Project

Edinburgh Young Carers has been delivering a Schools Awareness Raising Project across the City since 2010, with the aim to:

Enable greater identification of, and support to, Young Carers in Edinburgh, through working directly with primary and secondary schools; and to develop whole-school approaches to awareness raising and support of those children and young people with caring responsibilities

Through our schools project, EYC successfully removes the barriers that young carers and hidden young carers face within school, ensuring they can enjoy their time within the classroom and achieve their full educational potential.

Why Do We Work in Schools?

We know that there is a large population of hidden young carers not identified in the UK. School staff have an opportunity to help identify these young carers that they are supporting on a day-to-day basis. 

When young carers are recognised in the school environment, work can be undertaken to ensure that any practical or psychological barriers their caring role may have on their education are removed or minimised – as required by the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004, as amended by the 2009 Act. 

Working within schools is also best practice for early identification and intervention – which will help to prevent young people from taking on a caring role for too long without any support and therefore having this impact negatively on their health and wellbeing.

How Do We Work in Schools?

Edinburgh Young Carers offers a bespoke package of support to schools in the north/south east and central locality of Edinburgh.

Please see our training section to find out more about the variety of free training options available for your school.

We have a variety of materials, leaflets and supporting documents available free of charge on our resources page.

Get In Touch

We would welcome the opportunity to work with your school to further increase the understanding of young carers, identify hidden young carers and ensure that they are receiving appropriate support.

For further information, resource requests or to arrange a project visit to your school, please contact: