Medical needs
Supporting Students with Medical Needs
Rossett School has the responsibility to ensure that students who are absent from school with medical needs diagnosed by a medical officer, have the educational support they require to maintain their education. Good communication and co-operation between the school, home, medical professionals and the Local Authority are essential if good quality education is to be provided. The school’s policy reflects the DfE’s statutory guidance Ensuring a good education for children who cannot attend school because of health needs (January 2013 updated May 2013), Supporting pupils at school with medical conditions (September 2014), the report from Ofsted published in November 2013 Pupils missing out on education and the North Yorkshire Policy Statement.
The key aims of the policy are:
- To identify students’ medical needs early and to ensure that prompt action is taken.
- To provide continuity of high quality education, so far as the medical condition or illness allows.
- To reduce the risk of lowering self-confidence and educational achievement
- To establish effective liaison and collaboration with all concerned in ensuring that students with medical needs have access to education.
- To ensure successful reintegration into school for students with long term or recurring illness or medical conditions.
The Student Support Officers with assistance from the First Aid and Health Manager will:
- Ensure that there is effective communication with other parties.
- Attend, or ensure attendance at planning meetings and reviews.
- Maintain, or ensure that communication is maintained generally between the student and the school, especially with regard to activities and social events that may enable the student to keep in touch with peers.
- Be responsible for monitoring and developing Individual Healthcare Plans.
- Liaise with the SENCo as to whether to proceed with an Education and Health Care Plan.
- Monitor attendance of all students with medical conditions and for absences of 15 working days or less, that are not part of a pattern of a recurring illness, liaise with the student’s parents to provide homework as soon as the student is able to cope with it and ensure continuity of learning.
- Liaise with the Prevent Service regarding all students expected to be absent from school for 15 working days or more (including time in hospital) and make a referral as soon as possible to the local behaviour and attendance Collaborative (secondary) or teacher in charge of the local EMS (SEBN) (primary) for support in making educational provision for the student.
- Co-ordinate with the PRS/EMS (SEBN) the education provision from the first day of absence for students who have disrupted patterns of attendance due to recurring illness or chronic conditions.
- Ensure that where a referral is made, access to the planning and assessments in all national curriculum subjects which the student is studying is made available to PRS/EMS (SEBN) staff within 5 working days and work programmes on a termly basis where appropriate.
- Liaise with the designated home/medical teacher regarding the action plan as agreed at planning and review meeting.
- Make available to the PRS/EMS (SEBN) staff Individual Education Plans, Personal Education Plans, Individual Health Care Plans and Risk Assessments where appropriate.
- Supply PRS/EMS (SEBN) hospital teachers with background information on the child or young person and liaise to ensure that work set at an appropriate level for long and recurring admissions to hospital.
- Organise part-time attendance at school in combination with alternative provision if appropriate.
- Monitor provision, progress and reintegration arrangements.
- Ensure that students who are not able to attend school because of medical needs have access to public examinations.
- Ensure that the views of students and parents/carers are taken into account.
- Ensure that arrangements are in place to comply with procedures set out in the SEN Code of Practice (2014) where applicable.
- Promote equality of opportunity for students with medical needs having due regard for their duties under the Equality Act 2010.
- Keep the child on the school roll
- Review this policy annually.
