As the summer holidays are coming to an end, thoughts turn to preparing for the return back to school but for some children, there is often much more to think about than school clothes and stationery.
If your child/ren has any allergies or health conditions, then starting school or nursery in September also brings the task of educating the school and their teacher/s about their needs. This is where planning ahead and making sure you clearly document your child’s condition and communicate it to the relevant staff is essential.
Allergies
Most schools should have an allergy policy that you can review before your child starts school there to see how robust it is. This should help you identify who you need to communicate with at the school about your child’s health condition and what information you should be providing them with.
Depending on the severity of your child’s allergies you will also need to consider whether you need to supply the school with allergy pens and whether the staff looking after your child are trained to spot an allergic reaction and administer the medicine from the pen.
Health conditions
If your child has health conditions, then you will also need to check your school’s procedures on handling your child’s condition and what you need to communicate to them. If they need to administer medication you will also need to find out their processes and how to handle medication on a day-to-day basis.
Communication is key
Whatever your child’s needs are it is essential to have open lines of communication with your school and their teacher to allow an active dialogue about your child and how things are going and whether anything needs adjusting or addressing.
Support
You can also seek support from your GP or specialist organisations such as Allergy UK who have a wealth of information on their website as well as targeted resources to support parents and schools, and Anaphylaxis Campaign who support those with severe allergies and they also have support for schools too.
Whatever the school year brings, we wish you the best of health and a great year of learning!