Medical Needs & Medicines

If a diagnosis requires medication to held by the school or if you would like us to administer medicines for your child, please complete our Medicine Consent Form (contact our main office: office@stbedes.cambs.sch.uk) and return to main reception, with the medication.

Parents/carers will need to ensure that any required medication is provided to the school. This must be prescribed by a doctor and dispensed by a pharmacist. Packaging must include labelling from the dispensing pharmacy giving details of the student’s name, medication and dosage.

It is also vital that medication is kept up-to-date. Medicines will be checked termly and parents advised if medication has reached its expiry date. A reminder that all medication should be collected from school at the end of each academic year will be sent to parents/carers annually. Any remaining medication will be disposed of, as will all out of date medication, at a local pharmacy.

If a student has an on-going medical diagnosis parents/carers should request an Individual Health Care Plan (see drop down menu below).

The Department for Education now requires that students with medical needs have an Individual Health Care Plan (IHCP) which is reviewed annually. At St Bede's we intend to do this at the beginning of each academic year.

If a student has an on-going medical diagnosis parents/carers should request an Individual Health Care Plan, via the office: office@stbedes.cambs.sch.uk.

It is essential we have up-to-date and accurate information to ensure everything is in place to support a student's health and well-being whilst they are in school. Therefore, any relevant hospital/clinic letters would be helpful.

If a student has an NHS Health Care Plan, completed by healthcare professionals, we would be grateful to have a copy of the most recent document and to receive up-dated versions following annual reviews.

If a diagnosis requires medication to held by the school or if you would like us to administer medicines for your child, please complete our Medicine Consent Form (see above) and send it to main reception with the medication, along with any additional information e.g. doctors/hospital letters.

For a short term course of medication e.g. one or two weeks, which is required to be stored and administered at school, an Individual Health Care Plan is not required but a Medical Consent Form should be completed by parents/carers and should accompany the medication when delivered to school.

When your child goes into secondary school, they should be managing their asthma themselves. As this happens, there are a few things you need to make sure your child does:

• They need to check that their reliever inhaler is in their bag before leaving for school every day. It should be kept somewhere they can get to easily at any time, like during PE or if they are on a school trip.
• Your child should know if their school has spare reliever inhalers, in case they lose or forget their own. However, they should not rely on this. It will always be quicker and safer if your child can get their own inhaler quickly and easily.
• Your child should know when they need to use their reliever inhaler.
• They should recognise the symptoms of an asthma attack and know when to ask someone to call an ambulance.

'Back to school asthma'

Having asthma in year 7 can be an especially risky time for children, because of the amount of change a child experiences when moving up from primary to secondary school. It can mean a new environment, which will come with the potential for new triggers. 

Every September, more children are rushed to hospital due to their asthma than at any other time of the year. There may be a few reasons for this.

One reason is that lots of children get colds when they go back to school. This is one of the biggest triggers for people with asthma. 

Over the summer holidays, your child’s asthma care can be disrupted – for example, they may forget to take their preventer inhaler more often. This means they may be more sensitive to triggers when they go back to school.

However, the following link provides advice to help your child avoid a back to school asthma attack.

PE and Sports day with asthma

Exercise is good for everyone, including children and young people with asthma. However, some people find that exercise and sport trigger their asthma.  Find out more about exercise as an asthma trigger.

If you’re worried that PE lessons may trigger your child's asthma, there are a few things you can do:

• Tell their PE teacher or sports coach if they’re having symptoms. 
• Make sure your child keeps their reliever inhaler (usually blue) somewhere they can always get to.
• Encourage your child to warm up before taking part in PE or sports day.
• Make sure your child and their teacher know they need to stop exercising if they start to get any asthma symptoms, take their reliever inhaler, and wait until their symptoms have gone before starting the activity again.

On sports day, your child may have extra triggers, like excitement and exposure to pollen. Find out about emotions as an asthma trigger and pollen as an asthma trigger.

Exams, asthma and hay fever

Research shows having a diagnosis of asthma is a risk factor in dropping a grade between mock and final exams.

Stress can be an asthma trigger, so it’s important that your child is controlling their asthma during exam season. If you’re worried about your child’s stress levels, speak to the school, or your GP, about how they can help.

Pollen is a common trigger for asthma too, and hay fever is worse during the summer months, when many children take exams. Cut your child’s risk of an asthma attack triggered by pollen.

If your child has diabetes there is useful advice specifically for parents on the diabetes.org.uk website.