P.E and newly diagnosed asthma

[ferociousindependentandsquishy]

My DC is 12 and in yr 7, their attendance isn't great due to what I believed was a reoccurring chest infection/persistent cough. They'd seen the GP a few times, the cough sounded like croup, GP said it was bronchospasms. A couple of months ago they were very poorly and lay on the sofa very weak and no energy to cry. Each time antibiotics and a salbutamol inhaler were prescribed.
The latest flare up, I took DC back to the GP and it was decided, given the history and family history, that it was asthma. DC was given a steroid inhaler, reliever inhaler and asked to chart peak flow.
Given DCs poor attendance and newly diagnosed, as yet uncontrolled asthma I wrote a letter to say no P.E for two weeks while it was brought under control so as not to exacerbate it and end up with more time off.
The first P.E session of the second week my DC reminded the teacher that they were unable to participate that afternoon, however when it came to it they were instructed to run. DC didn't want to argue so did as they were told. They did not have their inhaler with them and did struggle with a coughing fit (it was not brought to the teachers attention so I don't know if the teacher is aware of this bit)
The next PE session I kept DC at home and took them to the GP for the requested 10-14 day review, then took them straight to school after.
The school do not currently have an asthma care plan for DC or a spare inhaler in school (I asked for the paperwork so I could do it but it hasn't been sent. I picked up the extra inhaler on Friday and will send it next week)

Was the school unreasonable or was I? What would you do? I feel like the school should've kept DC off P.E as requested and feel it was dangerous to enforce it without proper background such as the care plan and inhaler available. I tried to call head of department but haven't had a call back.

I do not think asthmatics shouldn't do P.E. I know when asthma is well controlled, P.E can be a good thing.

Was there a reason your child did not have their inhaler on them? My dd is in yr 3 and keeps one in school that she takes to outside activities, pe, trips etc. It has to become like second nature to have one at hand at all times. I’m asthmatic so as soon as she was diagnosed I went into school to ensure they had all the info and an inhaler. I would think in yr 7 they would take care of their own, though, but good to have a spare. Hope they are ok now.

Asthma can kill! You wrote a letter stating your concerns, you are absolutely right in to keep your dc out of pe until it’s been properly assessed, diagosed and treated

The teacher was unreasonable in the first place but your DC also needs to take responsibility for their own health. They need to understand the importance of having their inhaler available and if they're not well enough to participate in physical activity, they shouldn't regardless of what anyone says, especially when they don't have their inhaler.

Does your DC understand the implications of asthma? You don't want to scare DC but at same time they need to be aware of just how dangerous asthma can be so they take it seriously

Your DC should be carrying his own inhaler at all times, its only epipens that need to be kept spare at School for emergencies.

I would be livid if my DC was made to do PE when I had specifically asked for them not to for medical reasons.

You have to make sure he has a letter on his person next time to show the PE teacher and not rely on messages to be passed on.

The school should have communicated your message to the teacher even if they were, say, a cover teacher. It is totally reasonable to ask for a PE exception while your child gets used to controlling their asthma. But your DC needs to be able to tell the PE teacher if they can't do something - that's part of controlling your asthma, too. There might be other things they can do in PE even while learning to control their asthma, so it's not worth keeping them off school when their attendance is already poor.

One aspect of getting used to asthma is remembering to have your inhaler with you at all times - the people saying your child should have had their inhaler with them should remember that this is a new diagnosis and secondary school kids don't get the same level of reminders that primary school kids do. PE can actually be awkward in this respect because the kid has to remember to bring the inhaler from their bag to wherever they're doing PE and then remember to bring it back, so they're more likely to need it but less likely to remember it.

I have terrible asthma and quite liked PE within my limits (I was fortunate at secondary school to have a teacher who worked with this - like I could sprint sometimes and do javelin but lots of running was out) but it was an total arse having to carry the inhaler from changing room to sports hall to wherever the PE session was, especially because you just have to carry it in your hand, then you're expected to do stuff using your hands so you have to put it down, then you have to move to another location, etc.

You can get little bags for carrying inhalers in these days - they can go over your shoulder (so useful for PE and sport in general) but can also be folded down to fit in a rucksack. They might help your DC as long as their school allows it (they should).