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Better Connect: Young Carers

January - March 2026

Better Connect: Young Carers is a pilot project working with young people from across the borough.

A group of students gather around a table in an art classroom, using rollers, inks, tape, and paper as they take part in a printmaking activity. Other students work in the background, creating a busy, collaborative atmosphere.

Contexts:

Youth / Schools / Arts and Health / Carers / Children and Young People / North Tyneside

Partners:

North Tyneside Carers Centre, John Spence Community High School and Kings Priory School.

People:

Jos Forester-Melville / Cheryl Gavin

Tags:

We worked with young carers from Kings Priory and John Spence Community High School to co‑design a creative, empowering project that placed their voices, experiences and wellbeing at the centre.

Together, we developed a programme that:

  • Supported young carers to explore their identity, reflecting on what it meant to grow up with caring responsibilities
  • Helped them understand the challenges they faced and experiment with creative, practical ways to overcome them
  • Expanded their opportunities for emotional expression, physical wellbeing, social connection, and a strengthened sense of self
  • Built their confidence, recognising their strengths and celebrating their resilience
  • Improved emotional wellbeing, fostering connection, belonging and self‑esteem

By designing the project alongside the young people themselves, every activity and outcome was shaped by their needs and insights.

Tasters & Co-designing of Metrics

To make sure the project was genuinely led by young people from the very beginning, we ran a series of hands‑on taster sessions and co‑design workshops that gave them real decision‑making power.

Working alongside our Senior Creative Producer and Director, young carers took part in creative listening sessions where they designed their own evaluation metrics. They compared different ways of collecting feedback, tested out tools, and played decision‑making games to decide which methods would best capture their personal journeys. Young people from both schools chose the approaches that felt most meaningful and relevant to them.

Artform selection was another key part of the co‑design process. Through practical taster activities, young carers experimented with a range of creative mediums — exploring what felt right for expressing their identities and experiences. These sessions gave them the freedom to try things out, get playful, and ultimately choose the artforms that resonated most with how they wanted to tell their stories.

Kings Priory School, Tynemouth

The pupils from Kings Priory spent four creative sessions working closely with ceramicist Lindsey Grieves, transforming their ideas into something truly special. Each young person developed their own tile design, using shape, texture and colour to explore what belonging meant to them.

Experimenting with a vibrant palette and a mix of patterns, they crafted individual ceramic pieces that expressed their feelings and identities.

These pieces were then brought together to form a large collaborative mosaic — a powerful, collective artwork that celebrates their voices and the sense of belonging they built together.

A student in school uniform uses a small brush to paint a plaster shape at a wooden classroom table covered with art materials.
Two students work side by side, shaping or painting small plaster pieces on a table scattered with brushes, paint pots and tools.
A group of smiling students pose together behind a table displaying their mosaic development work, with art posters and shelves visible in the background.
A close-up of a student’s hands arranging square mosaic tiles on a wooden table as part of a design activity.
A group of students sit around a table covered in plaster pieces, paint and rollers, concentrating on their individual art tasks.
Students collaborate on a mosaic layout, placing tiles into patterns on a table labelled “Mosaic Development Process.”

“I liked the workshops because it made me feel connected. It made me feel happy.”

Kings Priory Young Carer

“It have felt happier, got to know people better and I feel like I got to know myself better.”

Kings Priory Young Carer

“It made me feel like I belonged and I had a great time.”

Kings Priory Young Carer

Caroline Smith on the Project

“As the Young Carers Champion for Kings Priory School, it has been a privilege to work alongside our incredible young carers and the team from Helix Arts on this very special project. When we were first invited to create something that reflected the experiences, strengths, and roles of our young carers, I knew it needed to be something meaningful-something that truly captured who they are and what they bring to our school community.

Over the past six sessions, our young carers have learned new artistic techniques, explored ideas, and shared their stories with honesty and courage. They worked together to design and create a beautiful installation that will hang proudly in our school. This piece is more than artwork-it is a reminder of their resilience, their compassion, and the quiet but powerful ways they support the people they love.

Throughout the project, they made new friendships, supported one another, and grew in confidence. They collaborated as a team, encouraged each other, and pushed themselves creatively. Watching them work together has been inspiring. They have produced something truly beautiful, but more importantly, something that reflects who they are: strong, thoughtful, capable young people who balance school life with responsibilities far beyond their years.

This installation will stand as a permanent reminder of their efforts not just in this project, but in their everyday lives. It honours the strength they show, often without recognition, and celebrates the unique contribution they make to our school community.

I want to thank Helix Arts and Lindsey especially, for guiding and supporting our young carers so brilliantly, and I want to thank the young carers themselves for their hard work, their openness, and their creativity. You should be incredibly proud of what you’ve achieved.” 

Caroline Smith, Young Carers Champion, Kings Priory School

John Spence Community High School, North Shields

Working with musician Bridie Jackson, the young people of John Spence threw themselves into the full experience of making music. Over a series of sessions, they collaborated to write and record a collection of original tracks that came together as their own short album.

They experimented with live instruments, building melodies on guitars and layering sounds to find the right feel. They wrote lyrics drawn from their own experiences, using songwriting as a space to express what life as a young carer can look and feel like. In the recording sessions, they explored every element of the process gaining confidence with each step.

By sharing their stories and supporting one another creatively, the group produced five unique pieces that they wrote collaboratively.

Group of students sat on blue seating holding CD's in their hands.
An individual plays an acoustic guitar, seated in a classroom or workshop setting.
A person paints textured materials on a canvas, using brushes and layered colours during an art activity.
Three people sit at a table with laptops and papers, working together in a collaborative learning session.
A person speaks into a microphone while using audio recording equipment in a media workshop.
Two people sit at a table with a laptop and microphone, engaged in an audio or media production activity.

“That was really amazing. I didn’t know what to expect, but it was amazing seeing them all so absorbed and being so creative. It’s such a shame there’s less opportunities for teenagers to do music because it’s so good for their mental health.”

John Spence Teacher

My confidence level improved with being able to speak up and sing in front of other people
I feel like I have been able to come closer to the group over the weeks.
I loved working with Birdie and loved how supportive she was with my song and ideas.
The workshops have helped me within being a young carer and helping me.

John Spence Young Carer

“When I first went I was a bit nervous then when I been more into it I felt more better because that I’ve worked with people and talk to others will make my day better.”

John Spence Young Carer

“My confidence has continued to grow as I’ve meet new people and made new friends.”

John Spence Young Carer

Want to know more?

If you would like to know more about this programme or be involved in future programmes like this, please get in touch.

E: Admin@helixarts.com

T: 0191 241 4931

With thanks to our funders.

Thank you to North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board’s Core20PLUS5 fund for funding this project.

Related Projects

Better Connect: Creative Health Programme

Ongoing

Better Connect supports the wellbeing of residents living in North Tyneside, and encourages connection through creativity.

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