Pre operation meeting with school

[elliejjtiny]

Has anyone done this? I'm not sure what to expect.

Ds4 (year 7) is having an operation in 2 weeks. This is his 25th operation, although 1st since starting secondary school, and we've never been asked to have a meeting before.

We've also been asked to bring a copy of the letter with the date of his operation on. Which is fine but I also have ds3 at the same school in year 9 who will be going to school. I'm assuming it's an LA paperwork thing and they don't think we are taking ds4 on holiday and leaving the other dc behind!

I suspect they would like to talk to you about how they can help him, and what adjustments he will need when he has had his operation.

But, wow, 25 operations. this must be tough.

do you have any thoughts on what school can do to help?

It's hard to tell really as I am on a Facebook group for parents of children with this condition and it seems to vary so much on how quickly children recover from this operation and what their needs are etc.

The main issue is that it's really important that he doesn't get knocked where his stitches are, otherwise he will likely need the operation doing again. He is a very clumsy child so I worry about him falling over, which he does quite often. It's advised to stay in at break/lunch for 6 weeks but a few of the children in the facebook page have ignored that and the school haven't stopped them. Most of them were ok but 2 got got in their stitches by a passing football and their operations had to be done again.

I went through this with my son, all be it many years ago.

they wanted to confirm what they needed todo to prepare, how it would impact his school day, moving round the school etc.

it might be worth asking he could move from class to class a few minutes before the bell so he’s not in a crowded corridor with rushing teenagers. That worked well for my son, he was also given ‘ support buddies” his best friends tbh but at least one was with him at all times. They also allocated a school contact, (his head of year) who kept an eye on him and was my contact.

there are things that the school has todo to prepare for him, things like fire drills have to be taken into account, they need to notify insurance etc . I have to say my sons school went above and beyond and were so supportive but it was a while ago now and things change.

Moving round a Secondary school is usually more problematic than moving round a Primary school, as frequent changes of classrooms. I assume they will need to do an individual risk assessment and have a plan in place

Primaries are generally on one level and the pupils tend to stay in one room for the vast majority of the day, whereas with secondary they’re up and down stairs, moving buildings etc. and it can be very difficult to manage a student with a broken leg (for example).

I suspect they just want to know about his surgery and recovery so they can put plans in place to make sure he’s looked after as best as possible.

The other thing I am concerned about is that he will sometimes intervene when another child is being bullied. They are very protective of each other in their tutor group, about half of them have significant SEN. Ds is one of the biggest in his tutor group so he feels like he should protect the smaller ones. I'm not sure what the school can do about that though (they know who is being bullied and who is involved) and they can't even discuss the problem with us as it's not out child being bullied.

The letter will be standard rhing they ask everyone.

The meeting will be so school know when he is expected to come back and what accomdations they need to put into place in the mean time.

They may ring you during his recovery period at home and maybe ask to speak to him. Just to see if everything is going as expected and to tick a safeguarding box.

Thank you. He will probably be really pleased to get a phone call from school. He always misses his friends and the teachers when he is in hospital.