Ellacombe Church of England Academy, which is part of the Learning Academy Partnership, has been marking Young Carers’ Day on 16th March with the generous support of a local business.
Organised by the Carers Trust for the past six years, this national day seeks to raise awareness of young carers and the incredible contribution that they make to their families and local communities.
As a whole school offer, each child received a special welcome back wellbeing pack when schools opened fully on 8th March.
In addition to this, and to support the Young Carers, the school received generous sponsorship from a local business in Exeter, Velo Brands. They were delighted to work in partnership with the school to bring some joy and enrichment to children’s lives by providing some activity boxes, which will provide the children with opportunities for fun and enrichment at home.
The activity sets included jigsaw puzzles, mind puzzles, arts and crafts kits, felt tip pen sets, geometric colouring pads, fun stamps and glitter gel pen sets. The children have already been using their creativity to create wonderful “Thank You cards.”
As part of the Learning Academy Partnership Trust, whose vision is to ‘Collectively Empower Excellence’, the team across their nine schools work together to share expertise to enable all pupils to flourish. By valuing and supporting children’s emotional wellbeing, alongside a rich and stimulating curriculum, they have become one of the top performing Trusts in the South West.
Mrs Semmens, Head of Academy at Ellacombe, said:
“Supporting children’s emotional wellbeing is at the heart of all we do here at Ellacombe, by providing children with the opportunities to discuss their feelings, we help them to develop the tools to support themselves and one another.”
Miss Rose, from the Family Support Team at Ellacombe, said:
“We love to celebrate this occasion by providing some additional support for our young carers in some shape or form. This past year has been extremely difficult for many families and particularly our young carers, some of whom may not have been able to attend school for long periods of time whilst also supporting those in their families. The pandemic has also prevented us from being able to hold our regular get-togethers for our young carers this year, so we needed to think of a creative way to let them know we are thinking of them, as well as offering them some safe activities to do at home.”