A MOREDON school which provides specialist support to young carers has won a prestigious award.

Moredon Primary School, in Moredon Road, received the carer ambassador status from the Swindon Carer’s Centre in a special assembly.

The ambassador status allows Moredon Primary to act as a centre of excellence and provide advice on supporting young carers at other schools in the area.

The school won the accolade in recognition of its support systems to ensure the well-being of young carers, such as staff training, providing dedicated staff members for carers to speak to and setting up a young carers' group.

A mosaic tree artwork designed by artist Fiona Mormon was also presented to teacher Helen Wollington with each fragment representing a young carer in the country.

Moredon Primary currently has nine young carers in its support group, which meets once every term time.

With the school’s new status they hope more children will come forward.

Helen, who created the group, said it was vital to the young carers in the school

“We wanted to do something for young carers and we put the feelers out," she said.

"I was surprised by the response and you can really see the difference it makes to all the children, they can share their experiences and they feel like they have someone to talk to.”

Principal Claire Leach said yesterday it was an honour to receive the accolade.

“It’s absolutely brilliant to be recognised as an ambassador school for young carers," she said.

"We see every day how much of a lifeline this group is to the children that use it.

"They can talk to others who are in the same situation. They can have fun as children do and there’s always a teacher they can turn to.”

Fiona Prinzi, from charity the Swindon Carer’s Centre was impressed with the dedication shown by staff.

She said: “To be given ambassador status I think it shows that self-sufficiency from the school. They have proven that they can provide the support and care to the students and it is showing in the results they are getting.

“Some children may not realise they are being carers and just see it as them supporting their mum, dad or relatives.

“We hope that as a result of this, other young carers will come forward and get the support they need.”

Moredon Primary is one of 45 town schools and academies working toward the young carer award.

A total of 26 schools across the country already have the award.

There are an estimated 700,000 young carers under the age of 18 in England.