To have emailed school

[wheresthel1ght]

Dd (4) is asthmatic, her attacks present as coughing fits. I have told one of her teachers (change part way through the week) and is on the form I had to fill in so they could have her inhaler in school.

This week she is particularly bad as a result of the weather. She had a massive attack at school and ended up being sick. Her class teacher informed the office and asked that I was contacted to collect her or bring in a change of clothes as they only had a summer dress and it has been - 2 at its warmest most of the week. The office never contacted me so dd had to endure the whole day including outdoor play in aa bloody summer dress. The teacher also didn't give her her inhaler although she did say dd had asked for it but they assumed it was just a cough so didn't give it to her.

I am quite cross, I have issues with the office staff which may be tainting my opinion somewhat. But I emailed Friday to say I was not happy and that it was unacceptable in my opinion that I was not contacted and dd was not given her inhaler. I told them I want an explanation tomorrow as to why their own processes were not followed.

A friend who's kids go to the school mentioned something this morning about being annoyed at the office staff and i mentioned I have emailed as was cross and she thinks I have been massively out of order. My email wasn't rude, was stern in its tone but polite.

So wibu?

[bunbunny]

Might be worth writing an email to confirm the conversations you've had with them today, including accepting the apology, pointing out that they themselves said they would have called you if you had sent her into school in a thin dress and everything else that shows they failed in their duty to your dd, plus outline what you will be sending/discussing/going into detail about later on, in order to create a timely account of what has happened and to create a paper trail, should you need to refer back to it in the future, particularly anythign they have said they will do but they don't follow up on.

Still means that you get to write them the formal bollocking complaint as a separate letter, this would just be effectively minutes of the conversations you had with the person in the office and the teacher, and is for your benefit rather than theirs.

[wheresthel1ght]

Thanks ladies. I will certainly check their policies and follow them when I complain. They break up tomorrow so. I will have some time to read up and compose my complaint appropriately.

Her other class teacher came to find me after school to let me know they had given it to her at lunch etc. She was very apologetic and understanding why I was angry. She was gobsmacked the office hadn't rung me too. I did say to her, I get in the melee it's possible the other teacher didn't hear her ask for her inhaler or it had slipped her mind after getting dd cleaned up but that the oversight on calling me was unacceptable as the first thing I would have done would have been to tell them to give it to her and I would assess when I got there.

I have been through briefly with her again and have said I will write a detailed plan for them and do copies for both teachers, ta, office and one to go in her inhaler bag

[TooDamnSarky]

I agree. Formal written complaint to the HT is essential to make sure that procedures actually change in the future for your DD and other children. You need to be clear about exactly what errors were made and about the serious potential consequences.
Ask to see their complaints procedure before you do this to make sure that you follow their processes correctly.

[JoJoSM2]

I'd complain formally to the headteacher.

[wheresthel1ght]

Call was from the office manager, apparently it was her who should have called me and didn't. She said there was no explanation for why not she just forgot. She has apologised and has updated the info in the class room to state any persistent coughing means dd needs her inhaler. They gave confirmed it is in a cupboard which I will challenge once I have done some reading up and spoken to our gp for back up over timings and where they feel it should be as this will hopefully give me more sway to get things altered.

She admitted she was out of line for not ringing me and I pointed out how dangerous a thin summer dress was in such cold weather especially for a newly diagnosed asthmatic as cold is a huge trigger for her. She murmured along with me. So I asked what the school would have done had I sent her to school in such inappropriate clothing for the weather and she admitted they would have called me in to provide warmer clothing. So I think I proved my point.

I told her I appreciate her honesty and the apology but I was still very unhappy about it and found their treatment of dd unacceptable. I have said I will send in the asthma action plan and that I expect it to be followed and if dd asks for her inhaler I fully expect them to give it to her. Although I will be ordering extras to put in her pe bag and book bag as per your suggestions.

I will also review their policy this evening.

Thank so much for reassuring me ladies. I have been a step mum for years but this whole own child thing is still very new!

[wheresthel1ght]

Thanks for tip. It is a very small school so doesn't have a deputy and the ht is the senco.

I have missed a call whilst in a call for work so will ring her back shortly and update

[grasspigeons]

I hope you get it sorted.

I'm a school office lady and another fan of the Asthma UK plan and helpline. I've rung it several times for advice. I really recommend you take a copy with you for your meeting.

In defence of the office - vetting the HT calls is very much what they are expected to do. I have been in the situation where the HT has said ' I am not meeting with X because of Y' and I cant tell the person what Y is as its very sensitive safeguarding issue - so I look like a sour faced cow who wont pass on the message!

If you want a top tip for getting the issue dealt with today - I would say that you need to speak to a member of the senior leadership team as its urgent rather than specifically the HT. You could speak to the deputy, any designated safeguarding lead, the SENCO, they are all capable of hearing your very serious concerns and investigating it. Its not that this is not worthy of the heads attention, and they will be involved, it just might get the ball rolling much quicker.

[spugzbunny]

Do let us know how you get in today with the school! I'm asthmatic and if I didn't have my inhaler when I needed it then the panic would make me worse

[TheHungryDonkey]

Is that true about summer dress neglect? My 7 yo wears a summer dress every day with leggings and sometimes keeps her cardi on. No one has approached me and mentioned neglect? She usually cuts the arms and legs off her clothes in school because it gets so hot in the classrooms and she’s sensitive to being hot.

[MissEliza]

Omg that's awful on both points - the clothes and not giving the inhaler. My dd's school lost her inhaler. She'd never needed it at school. I only found out it was lost when I went to pick it up at the end of term. I sent a strong email to the head and the office staff were really off with me for months.

[GreenTulips]

Can I add - if you sent your child into school in just a summer dress, they would have recorded it as neglect

[bunbunny]

Shocking behaviour from the school.

Definitely needs to be raised as a safeguarding issue and ask to see all health and safety risk assessments for your dd for worst possible scenarios - and point out how they failed massively and could have led your dd to be very very ill or worse.

As a short term measure, could you make a small credit card sized laminated card for your dd to show to teachers/staff if she is having an attack that says 'HELP! I'm having an ASTHMA ATTACK. This means I cannot talk, I'm coughing and struggling to breathe. Please get my inhaler as quickly as possible [Location: zzzzz]. This is an EMERGENCY. You may also need to call 999 if the inhaler does not work within xx minutes/puffs. Also please call my mother on xxxx or father on yyyy asap. Thank you.'

and then make sure that the card gets written into care plan - that it might be used, it might not, but if your dd does use it then it needs to be followed. Also provide her with a few spares - so there's one in her tray, one in her pocket, one in her pencil case, one in her coat pocket, one in her pe kit, one in her lunch bag and so on - so she knows that there are plenty to hand if she needs it urgently.

[Italiangreyhound]

YANBU. This is appalling. They need to put things in place now so this never happens again.

"i mentioned I have emailed as was cross and she thinks I have been massively out of order" Your friend is massively out of order. I would just politely point out to her it is your child who was sick at school, left all day in a summer dress in December, you as parent were not informed and worst of all your child asked for her inhaler and was not given it.

Unless you drove your car into the office doorway after sending the email, I am not sure how an email could really be over the top!

Ignore your friend, they are a twat!

[NewBallsPlease00]

You were not bu at all
Similar issue here with prescribed medicines being overused by a policy moderated by a non professional medic
I complained to governors. Harsh yes but it's a school policy the staff were told to follow- dangerous at best. It's being resolved.

[becotide]

The thing that helped my kid's headteacher see my point was asking him bluntly "How long does it take for a child to die after their airways close?"

he guessed 20 minutes

I informed him - three minutes. It takes three fucking minutes and it should never, ever get that far. And if I ever found my child further than throwing distance from his blue inhaler again, I would call social services and the police.

yes, it was a massive reaction. It needed to be

[Lovecat]

That's terrible! Definitely complain, that could have been life-threatening. I'm also shocked that the only thing they could dress her in was a summer frock (we have shedloads of spare clothes in our medical office!), and that even after vomiting no-one called you - in the school where I work you would have been called immediately to bring her home.

With regard to epipens, we won't allow a child with anaphylaxis into school unless we've been provided with 2 epipens - one for the classroom, one for the medical room - and all the staff have had training in how to administer the various varieties of epipen. Definitely take this further. Hope your daughter's feeling better now.

[GreenTulips]

My son had a similar issue, he was blue by the time school finished

Long story short, the teachers had training, boxes were provided in the class out of reach, each contained the signed form and medication/spaced

Inhalers were checked for dates at the end of each term

Staff had to sit with a child for at least 5 minuets after the inhaler had been taken to ensure it had worked

Posters were placed around school

Good luck

[Snotgobbler99]

I'm an ex-teacher, in my sixties, and have had asthma since birth. Believe me, attitudes towards asthma have changed out of all recognition since I was a kid. There's no excuse these days for a school not to have a workable policy.

I began working in schools in the early 80's and I made it my business to make certain all the schools I worked in subsequently had proper working policies for asthma (plus epilepsy/migraine etc etc).

Find the Asthma Policy on the school website then contact the headteacher directly and ask for their explanation as to what happened and how they intend to sort it out. If the HT fails to give a decent response, go directly to the chair of governors and LEA - you have every right to raise hell about this.

Having said that. Do talk to your DD about things she can do to help herself if she's having an attack and there isn't an inhaler available - because it can happen and it returns a small element of control back to her. Relaxation and yoga type breathing exercises really do help. Also, teach a couple of her classmates to spot the signs of trouble - like changes in voice or adopting the tripod position - so they can tell the teacher when your DD can't.

[Booboobooboo84]

This makes me so angry. The worst thing being that if she was an asthmatic who just happened to be coughing at the time the inhaler would have helped anyway.

There is so much ignorance about asthma. It’s such a dangerous illness. I would be insisting my daughter has an inhaler on her at all times from now on as well as the teachers having one. It’s good practice for children to learn to keep it with them and for it to be their responsibility. Yeah every few kids you get one that gets a bit trigger happy when they first take the responsibility and take a puff constantly but that’s how it goes and it won’t harm them. Or anyone else unless they happen to be allergic. I don’t have asthma but due to the severity of my lung condition take an inhaler when I have a cold because it bloody helps.

[wheresthel1ght]

Lala, I did that at the meeting, I pointed out in severe cases of anaphylaxis it cam take less than 2 minutes to become brain damaged and not much more to be dead. The school nurses backed me up and the ht was definitely squirming by the end. We are lucky at the moment that she doesn't need the epipen as it is easily avoided as she has to touch it/ingest so as long as no-one has it on the classroom and they are careful about what treats and sweets are allowed in she is fine. But she is due a battery of sensitivity and allergy tests at some point in the early part of next t year and obviously depending on what that shows up she may then need one. At which point I will be demanding a full risk assessment of their policy be carried out by an independent person. I used to write them in a former life so I am quite good at spotting the errors and oversights! In fact I had to wrote one in order to carry my own epipen at my place of work

[lalalalyra]

Lala - it's an lea run one and thanks I would appreciate that. Their policy is online I think, am in bed now but will check tomorrow and copy over to a bank document to avoid outing myself and them! But the epipen came direct from the ht during a meeting between her, me and the school nurse team. They are based out of a local health centre rather than individually at school

I'd ask the school for the timings of getting the epipen from the cupboard to the classroom. That's what shifted the opinion of a blinded HT I worked with once. It took 1 minute for the teacher to realise the child needed it and to get another child to go and fetch it, 1 minute for the child to run to the office, 30 seconds to explain what they needed, 30 seconds for the staff to get it out of the locked cupboard, 1 minute for the child to run back to the classroom - so assuming that the office was staffed, the child explained quickly and clearly, the staff had the correct key and the epipen was obtained quickly it took a full 4 minutes - It's less than half if it's in the classroom, and it's considerably longer if you send a 4/5/6yo who can't explain what they need quickly or clearly or who doesn't have the confidence to interrupt the school office staff if they are talking/on the phone/discussing something with the HT.

Same with an inhaler. Once you are talking of 5/6/7 minutes before a child gets their hands on their inhaler you are talking about problems.

Also if other children can't be trusted around inhalers/epipens (this is often the reason for them being locked away ime) then how can they be sent to fetch it? But you can't send a child who is mid asthma, or anphylactic, attach to fetch it. So who goes?

[Bunnyjo]

Gosh, OP, that is appalling and you really do need to have strong words with the school. I'm actually disgusted that she was refused her medication despite requesting it.

DD has asthma and her care plan is reviewed annually and/or if there is a change to her medication/condition. Her asthma also presents as a persistent cough to begin with, but her symptoms progress quite rapidly.

When her care plan is reviewed I have a meeting with her class teacher, TA and the HT (who is also the SENCo) and everyone is very aware that her primary symptoms are a persistent cough.

DD's school are fantastic and her inhalers are always on hand. The only time I have had a moment was when her current class teacher was present at the annual review for the first time and he asked if he should call me for advice if DD fails to respond to Ventolin and was a bit taken aback when I said, "No, you'd call 999!"

[Zeb81]

Most definitely take it further. I almost lost my son earlier this year due to a 'cough' and he did get his inhaler, his school did call and I did take him to the hospital and he still ended up on a ventilator due to the severity and it not being taken as seriously as it actually was. By medical professionals. A school secretary does not have the skills or rights to make the decision not to call you. Ever.

[RestingGrinchFace]

YANBU at all. Most parents would have done far worse than a stern email.