Issue 2 YCYC Attitude!Attitude! Autumn 2014 The voice of Young Carers in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough “Great things are done by a series of small things brought together” Vincent Van Gogh 1 Tracy’s Bit! Editorial Teams Needed! The busiest summer programme in Are you a keen writer or photographer that Young Carers was a great success, so likes snapping some shots or has a thank you to all concerned. creative spark and wants to get involved with putting these newsletters together in We are running more groups than ever the future? before and this means more opportunities for Young Carers and their families to be Then please get in touch! We are looking supported. for editorial teams in Fenland, Huntingdonshire and Peterborough. Our Young Adult Carer group STRIVE is now operating in Hunts & Fenland and is Please contact John Turner a group for 16-21 year olds to come [email protected] together and work on issues that concern them. We also won the contract to deliver Young Carers and Sibling groups in Peterborough which is fantastic news and soon we will be working with Young Adult Carers in Peterborough too. If you need any support with anything carer or school or life related please get in touch, Meet the Team Tracy Hyland YC/YAC Manager Lauren Mowbray Debbie King Danielle Cousins Lisa Masters Group Leader Group Leader Group Leader YAC Group Leader Huntingdonshire Fenland Peterborough & Sibs Session Worker Ummar Anjum John Turner Daniel Baker Group Leader Session Worker - YC & Sibs YAC Session Worker St Neots Peterborough & YC Fenland To email For Cambridgeshire <firstname>.<lastname>@carerstrustcambridgeshire.org For Peterborough <firstname>.<lastname>@carerstrustpeterborough.org 2 Summer Holiday Postcards 31/07/2014 Hi all, Today we were lucky enough to be invited by Lady De Ramsey to visit Carers Trust Cambridgeshire her home, Abbots Ripton Hall. 4 The Meadow “Today was fun and my favourite part was exploring the garden and Meadow Lane going in the pool.” St Ives “I enjoyed the atmosphere. It is a Cambridgeshire lovely surrounding and has beautiful PE27 4LG gardens.” Hi everyone, Thanks to Huntingdon Rotary Club who organised a trip on the 31/07/2014 Ladybird Boat Marina. We enjoyed the boat journey, played a fewfrom games Hartford and a lovely picnic on the green in St Ives, were we moored. Carers Trust Cambridgeshire “My favourite part of today’s trip 4 The Meadow was seeing the duckys!” Meadow Lane St Ives Cambridgeshire PE27 4LG 27/08/2014 Hi all, Today we had a fantastic time at the beach in Old Hunstanton. We Carers Trust Cambridgeshire built sandcastles, played rounders & football and visited the rock pool. 4 The Meadow Tracy even completed her Ice Meadow Lane Bucket Challenge! Well done Tracy! St Ives “My favourite part was going in the Cambridgeshire sea.” PE27 4LG “My favourite part was visiting the rock pool and building sandcastles.” 3 Fair Start - Give young carers the chance to achieve at school Carers Trust want the Government to give extra funding to schools so they can support young carers to have the same life chances as everyone else. Young carers face extra challenges in school because of their caring role. 166,363 young carers under 18 years old (of which 110,073 are under 16) have been identified. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Carers are as young as five years old and nearly 15,000 children care for more than 50 hours a week. Carers Trust believe that young carers in school need extra help. What form this takes will be different depending on the pupil and their circumstances but there are some things that Carers Trust would recommend in each school: A staff member who is responsible for young carers All staff and leaders to be trained in who young carers are, how to recognise them and what support they might need Support groups that are available to young carers Someone and somewhere young carers know to go for help. Carers Trust want Pupil Premium to be given to all young carers so they can get the same life chances as everyone else. How can you get involved? Sign the Petition asking Government to include young carers in the criteria for Pupil Premium. You can sign it online or sign a paper copy at group sessions. Visit www.carers.org/fairstart to sign the petition and find out more. Young Carers Champions What is a Young Carers Champions? Fenland Young Carers Champions Young Carers Champions are developing the Tye Young Carers in Focus (YCiF) network on a national level. They receive training and Huntingdon Young Carers Champions skills to help them raise awareness about the Jo issues the and other young cares face. Peterborough Young Carers Champions The key aim is to ensure that participating Alex young carers will have improved resilience, confidence, skills and knowledge. This can Ginny improve young people’s well being and Megan quality of life, particularly during transitional stages in their education as they move Sami towards independence. Want to know more? To find out more about the Young Carers Champions, please contact: Tracy Hyland [email protected] 4 A big thank you goes out to those that have supported us with their contribution to the creation of a short film by sharing with us their views and opinions on the difference the project has made to them. We also received a great piece of written feedback from Andy Butcher-Tiffany. When asked how the project has supported him Andy said "The realisation that I am the master of my future, no one but me! if it hadn't been for Carers trust I wouldn't have realised that I control my future. It is not already wrote down, it is ever changing based on my choices and decisions". This really embraces the ethos of the project. This isn’t about steering you or “schooling” you but supporting you to steer and STRIVE forward for yourselves wherever you find your journey heading. This project is slightly more structured in its format and we look at specific topics but that isn’t at the expense of the laughter!!!!! If you are aged between 16 and 21, or are coming up to your 16th birthday, and are interested in this additional project get in contact with Lisa. Lisa Masters [email protected] Mobile: 07956 455 680 On 22nd October we were delighted to host a visit from three members of staff from Carers Trust who wanted to come and find out the opinions of young and young adult carers in support of the ‘Fair Start’ Campaign. This campaign is to ask the government to include young carers and help them get the extra support they need from something called the Pupil Premium. If you don’t know the Pupil Premium is extra money that the Government gives each school to give schoolchildren a helping hand who would otherwise struggle. And why is that important to us? We know that young carers struggle in school because of their caring role: 166,363 young carers under 18 years old (of which 110,073 are under 16) have been identified. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Research suggests as many as 1 in 12 children at school is a young carer. That’s two young carers per class. At least 32,661 children care for at least 20 hours per week. A quarter of young carers said they were bullied in school because of their caring role. Young carers get much lower grades in school - a recent survey showed the most common grade to be D’s at GCSE. And Carers Trust wants Pupil Premium to be given to all young carers so they can get the same life chances as everyone else. Want to sign the petition? Visit http://www.carers.org/fairstart or ask your group leader when you see them. 5 Tips & Hints ‘Staying Safe Online’ The World Wide Web is becoming a major part of our daily life, whether it's using it for homework, research, online shopping or updating our social media status. It is so important to stay safe and protect our privacy. Here’s some useful information and tips to keep yourself and others safe online. This is not an exhaustive list. General Viruses – Make sure your PC, smartphone, tablet has up to date anti-virus protection. For smartphones and tablets, make sure you trust the program or app you are installing, is it from a genuine source. Passwords – Make sure you have a strong password, use upper and lower characters, as well as numbers and symbols. Don’t share it with anyone and change your password regularly. Photos – Any photos that you post, are then made public, even if you delete the photo later, it may have been copied/reposted/sent on by other users. You then have no control over it. Be careful what images you want to be seen and by whom. Be wise; don't post inappropriate photos, even if you’re asked to. Facebook Did you know? Facebook has a minimum age limit of 13. This is not to be unkind to those under 13, it is for your safety. Have you checked your privacy settings? Who can see your profile? Facebook has improved the privacy options available over recent years. You can now use the Privacy Check-up. Here's how to make sure your privacy is private. 1. Click on the padlock icon in the top right-hand corner; this will bring up the Privacy Shortcuts. Here you can take a Privacy Check-up, see who can see your stuff, see who can contact you and how to stop someone bothering you.