school plan!

Status
Not open for further replies.
B

bev

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Parent
To all you parents out there there!

I have a meeting at school this afternoon 3pm and i forgot all about it. It is to make a school plan for Alex moving up to secondary school.

His little primary is so small that although we do have a plan - i just ring the first aider if theres a problem etc.. so its all very relaxed.

But i am aware that i cant do this at a huge secondary with hundreds of children!

So does anyone have one they could show me or just give me a few tips please? Thanks. Bev



p.s.any schoolies or uni students out there - feel free to add anything that you thought would have helped you in your school care plan! Katie, Tom, Tasha, Smile...
 
Last edited:
Hi Bev

I'm not a parent but I happened to come across this the other day for something else so looked it up for you. It's the advice my local authority gives to schools about diabetic students, the word document at the bottom looks fairly useful. It may be worth checking out if your local authority has something similar on their site...?

http://schools.norfolk.gov.uk/index.cfm?s=1&m=36&p=1399,index
 
Aymes, thanks so much for that - i have just read the download and it covers most of the things i was worried about - so i will print it off and take a copy with me! Thanks again! :D Bev
 
Hi Bev, I am sure you and Alex will be fine. Who are you meeting with, the form tutor and head of year? I always found they were good points of contact whenever I had to gte in touch with school.

Schools now have dedicated first aiders and a first aid room and trained councilors who help students with any problems they may have. When my big boy was at secondary school he was a mentor and helped the new students comming in to settle down.

From the link you have, most things are covered. I am sure Alex will enjoy his time at secondary school, especially aas he is supported by a very caring mum.

Tell Alex from me it's cool to go to big school
 
Hi, I am not a parent either, but as a teacher wonder if you could ask if there are any teachers with diabetes who might be willing to help or even be there for him to chat to if he wants. I know that I have told our nurse that I am more than happy to help in any way - though so far this has been providing glucose in emergencies not really talking to pupils.
 
Hi Caroline, we are seeing the school nurse and a teacher. Thanks for your kind words too!

MCR,
Thanks also for your advice - i know there are 2 other diabetic children starting at the same time which will be reassuring! Wish you were at Alex's school! 🙂 Bev
 
Hi Bev, I'm afraid I can't help with this one, I was 18 when diagnosed so looked after myself during 6th form 🙂 Goodluck with the meeting x
 
bev said:
Hi Caroline, we are seeing the school nurse and a teacher. Thanks for your kind words too!

school! 🙂 Bev
Click to expand...

These days school nurses are a pretty astute bunch, so I'm sure Alex will be well looked after. It is good to have a couple of familiar faces and good to know Alex will not be the only one.
 
Hi Bev

Missed your 3pm slot! But just thought I'd add that E developed diabetes at the beginning of yr8, so second year into secondary school. He goes to a large school, 1300 students, and there are 2 other type 1 boys there, one in his year and one in 6th form.

We have found the school's 'hands off but here if you need us' attitude enormously helpful. We met with the learning folks, who handle all out of standard conditions, whether medical or learning - and they have been fantastic. Our care plan is up in the staff room, all his teachers know. He goes to the medical room across from the school secretary to do his injections, poking his head around the corner every day to let her know he's been. We have lodged a box with extras of everything in a cabinet with her. He also has a laminated 'front of the lunch queue' pass, which he uses when he doesn't bring his lunch. Again, this pass doesn't mark him out because lots of boys have a similar pass for lunchtime activities. AND the head dinner lady has pointedly said to him that if he ever needs anything to eat, he just needs to come find her or send a friend.

Only two things have arisen since the start: 1) he once had to referee a game while he was hypo -- disaster. PE teacher didn't know he couldn't continue to participate immediately after treatment,and E felt very rough, wasn't forward enough to insist he sat out for a few minutes. 2) he had a hypo just before a french test, and felt a bit whacked, did worse on it than he thought he would have done under better conditions. For both instances, we rang our liaison people, and they acted immediately: nothing like it has happened in PE since; and we have been assured that in exam situations, how he is will be taken into account. What they didn't do -- and he/we didn't want them to -- was take the hypo into account for the normal tests -- he's very keen that he just get on with it, as they are. It's only in exam situations, in tests that really matter, that we are going to try to organise things better, perhaps even running him slightly high...

But the learning/medical contact has been a real boon, so *all* areas of his care can be discussed at once. And one of the members of this 'special learning' team is actually one of his usual teachers anyway, so it has all folded in well to his day.

It is a testament to him and the school that we just had a parents' eve in which we heard how spectacularly well he's doing -- with no blip in *any* subject since diagnosis. We are so proud of him, and grateful to the school for their light touch but sensitive care.
 
Hi Bev, Did everything go as you had hoped yeterday? It sounds good that Alex won't be the only one in his year.
 
Hi!,
It all went very well thankyou. The school nurse went through everything and then asked us for any input - which we did - and she assured us that the plan is not 'set in stone' and she is keen to have constant updates with how things are going. There is a medical room on the site that other children use, and staff are trained , but there is a first aider who will care for Alex on a daily basis. She also assured us that day trips and overnight stays will be catered for - so he wont be left out of anything. He will also be allowed to use a mobile if he is unsure about corrections or degrees of hypo's etc..
Alex will be given a card that he just holds up in class if he is hypo and someone will get him his hypo pack etc and take him to the medical room. We do have to apply for special arrangements for exams etc - but it sounds as if the school will be happy to tailor things towards Alex's needs.

Alex was very impressed - mostly because he will be getting a mobile phone! I was against getting him one yet as he is only 11 - and i felt he has enough things to remember etc - but he is very keen! So all in all quite impressed so far, and we can have more meetings if we need to tweek anything.🙂 Bev
 
that sounds really good what he is doing at school r.e the holding up of the card when having a hypo, the school seem to be doing everything they can for alex nice to hear x
 
Great news bev, and very reassuring for you know that Alex will be well taken care of. I do hope that, after all the 'diabetes this, diabetes that' of the past few months, it soon becomes just a minor inconvenience in his life and he can get on and enjoy his childhood like any other normal 11 year old! Although, I suspect that all this will have brought him a maturity beyond his years which hopefully will benefit him in his approach to things - every cloud has a silver lining!🙂
 
Brilliant, glad it all went well, I bet Alex is getting excited about moving up to his new school now a lot of the 'worries' are taken care of?
 
Hi Aymes,

Yes he is very excited - i think he has 'outgrown' his little primary school!
But he is so little to me and very baby faced - he will look tiny wearing the uniform! I dont think he realises yet that he will be surrounded by 6 footers and just how huge the school is!

I only realised how babyish he looks at the weekend when we met 2 x 12 year olds whose voices had broken and they were towering over Alex! Bless!🙂 Bev
 
bev said:
Hi Aymes,

Yes he is very excited - i think he has 'outgrown' his little primary school!
But he is so little to me and very baby faced - he will look tiny wearing the uniform! I dont think he realises yet that he will be surrounded by 6 footers and just how huge the school is!

I only realised how babyish he looks at the weekend when we met 2 x 12 year olds whose voices had broken and they were towering over Alex! Bless!🙂 Bev
Click to expand...

I was 4' 8" when I started at secondary school. A year later I was 5'6"!😱

I didn't grow much taller (I'm about 5' 9"). I remember going back to my old school after I graduated and all the 'little' boys were all now towering above me!😱
 
Ha ha - when did your voice break Northerner? Alex still has a gentle choirboy sort of voice! Think i will measure his height when he gets in for comparison! Bev
 
I'm glad all is working out for Alex.

With the mobile you can put some numbers in and the letters ICE which stand for In Case of Emergency. If Alex is able to phone home or the DSN himself to ask for help it will help hime feel more in control and ease the transition.

I'm sure Alex will soon catch up with his peers. Boys tend to grow in spurts where it is more steady with girls.

I hope Alex will enjoy the next stage of his education, I'm sure he will go from strength to stregnth. It is quite normal to worry about our kids, with or without diabetes.
 
steff09 said:
that sounds really good what he is doing at school r.e the holding up of the card when having a hypo, the school seem to be doing everything they can for alex nice to hear x
Click to expand...
Can't put it any better than this so I'll quote it. :D
 
bev said:
Ha ha - when did your voice break Northerner? Alex still has a gentle choirboy sort of voice! Think i will measure his height when he gets in for comparison! Bev
Click to expand...

About the same time - I was in the 'non-musicians class' - this was for pupils who couldn't sing! I was nicknamed 'Jack' for a while, as I was tall compared to a lot of my friends, after Jack 'The Giraffe' Charlton who played for Leeds Utd at the time. Here's a picture of me on a camping holiday at Pately Bridge when I was 13 (you'll notice it's in black and white and taken on a Kodak 127 camera)😱

Misc_0014.jpg
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top