to not want DD to go back to school in September?

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I am so stressed

My 6yo DD has Type 1 Diabetes, and we have struggled getting any support from school. So I've been going in 2/3 times a day to administer insulin, correct high blood sugars etc - class teacher has only been responsible for checking blood sugars and treating lows. This was only done sporadically. For anybody who doesn't know, low blood sugars (hypo) can lead to seizures, comas and even death.

In the final few weeks, things just got worse.

• DD's teacher would either not treat or ring to ask how to treat lows - despite having a written care plan, instructions taped inside hypo supply box, a years worth of training from the diabetes nurse - and then not follow my instructions, and when asked said numerous times 'I must have forgot'.

• Just completely 'forget' to check DD's sugars in general.

• Stopped sending communication diary home.

• I had a meeting with DD's teacher for next year - after it being rearranged due to them 'forgetting' twice - and she promised to learn how to do DD's blood sugar by end of term. She did not do it once despite me asking most days and the nurse's calls were ignored.

We planned for DD's nurse to just come in with me at lunchtime, because obviously this is dangerous and unacceptable. But we didn't get to this point. I had a phone call one morning saying 'Come over immediately'. I got there and DD was covered in blood, DD said she had fallen and hit her head on an oven they have outside the classroom for baking. She had a deep wound above her eye which required stitches and had mild concussion. Nobody could tell me what had happened, other than DD.

• At this point, it's worth mentioning that last year DD also had her hand broken at school - they were playing with tyres and another child rolled one over DD's hand -

With the injury, DD didn't end up going back to school. I am recovering from sepsis which had me in hospital earlier in the year and unfortunately, two days after, I was admitted into hospital myself and diagnosed with Crohn's Disease.

So my husband went in to collect DD's supplies and everything before the end of term and asked DD's teacher what had happened - she 'didn't know' and said 'she wasn't in the room, I didn't see'. Before leaving he (calmly) expressed his disappointment at how DD's care had been, and re-iterated that not treating lows properly would mean DD's cognitive function was impaired.

Well, DD's teacher had a meltdown at this point. Said that she 'didn't have to do anything she didn't want to' and that 'she's only human'. Well yes, of course - everybody makes mistakes, but this is important. And then walked out and refused to talk about it. So DH arranged a meeting for the day before school goes back with the headteacher, and I spoke to her via email when I came out of hospital and she apologised for the situation.

However, headteacher has been aware of all of this and has been largely ineffective. I don't have any faith that things are going to change, I don't feel safe sending DD to school but I just don't know what I can do to change things before September. I'm obviously in really poor health too and the idea of the stress of it all, the going in and out to school all day is driving me to tears whenever I think about it.

Any advice, or just understanding, would be much appreciated. Sorry also if anything has been unclear

Yes she will have a different teacher in September. I met with her early June and said that she was happy to take on DD's care. She asked me what did I want to happen and I said not to worry about administering the insulin etc yet, all I wanted was for her to know how to test blood sugar and understand what the levels meant - which was written, printed and given to her.

During the meeting, DD's current teacher said that she would be happy to show new teacher how to do blood sugar - that this would happen 3 x a week until the end of term so that she would be confident with doing it.

As of the last day of term, new teacher has not done it once. She 'watched' DD's teacher do it once, and that was it. I did ask regularly what was happening and was told they were busy, forgotten, would do it tomorrow etc.

I did bring this to headteacher's attention and as I said in OP I was going in again to see Year 2 teacher, but then DD's head injury happened and I went back into hospital.

Last year was just as bad. I understand nobody will ever particularly relish the responsibility, but somebody has to do it and I'm tired of fighting so hard for my DD to be safe at school.

Please speak to the governors about this. I am a senior member of a primary governing body and it is very possible that I would never find out about this situation if the parent did not speak directly with us. If I heard about a situation like this in my school it would be a very, very high priority for us to get it sorted out as quickly as possible.

When you apply for an EHCP, you need to emphasise that this is an education issue, not solely a health issue. I assume it affects dd in education terms in that if her sugar levels aren't properly controlled she can't concentrate? And of course if things go badly wrong so that she becomes ill she won't be in education at all, and her cognition could be affected.

The reason I say this is that if you don't make it clear that this is an education issue you won't get an EHCP at all: although there is a health section, it concerns only health issues that relate to education. But you want the provision in the education section (section F) because that is the section that is easiest to enforce through the courts if necessary.

But you want the provision in the education section (section F) because that is the section that is easiest to enforce through the courts if necessary.

Good point.

This is a long way through the process from where you are now but, if she does end up with a plan, make sure the details of her provision are in section F as there is no right of appeal if it is only in section G.