Late marks for needing to take inhaler

[Madrid21]

My DS has recently started year 7 and at the weekend he had an astma attack triggered by a virus he'd had for a few days, we ended up in A&E and after salbutamol and steroids he started to improve and was sent home to recover (we're waiting on a referral to the astma clinic). On Tuesday he went back to school still needing to take the blue inhaler on occasion. I'd emailed his tutor on the Monday to ask what the procedure is for taking medication to school, I still haven't had a reply. Today I checked the app and saw that he had red late marks, I asked DS why and he said he'd needed to go to the office to take his inhaler, he'd told the teacher he was at the office. He's now worried about needing to take the inhaler as if he gets anymore red marks this week he will get a detention. I'm not sure if/who I should contact at school tomorrow?

AIBU to think that school should allow him to take his inhaler when he needs it without being punished for lateness?

You and your DS both sound like rule followers (which is not a criticism) so I just wanted to say from my experience of secondary school parenting, you have to put your self/child first in your thought process and then if there is a relevant school rule it will become apparent. Ie rather than check with school what the inhaler rules are, decide what will best suit your son and do that. Say “having his inhaler on him but taking himself to a private spot when it suits him”.Then just do that. Don’t wait about to be informed about things, because generally secondary school isn’t bothered about XYZ unless you are.

YANBU, but he really needs to carry his inhaler.
You don't mess with asthma.

My concern is that DS won't take himself off to a quiet spot if he is worried about being late, he will ignore the symptoms and keep going. He's a sensible lad but hes only been at secondary a few weeks and I can understand why he doesn't want to get in trouble. I totally agree with you though.

Year 7 - he keeps his inhaler and spacer on him at all times.

It should not be in the office and the school should know this. It is not up to him. It is a basic safety issue. The office is too far away if he's on the field, or anywhere really.

Call the school about the late mark and it should be removed.

Let your son know you will support him if he gets a late mark or detention related to his asthma and will ensure that they sort it out/rescind it.

@Madrid21 100% this.

Any child that is late gets a late mark, regardless of whether they are at a music lesson, gone to matron, bus was late, skiving etc...

The school then keep track of the late marks and speak to the child if they get several.

If he went to the office then this will tally with the late mark.

He should keep his inhaler on him.

He should have his inhaler on him, he can still find somewhere quiet to use it if need be ( not in corridors is sensible as likely to get knocked into). My DS carries his but the school asked for a second one to keep in the school office as teenagers aren’t great at always remembering to bring their medication, are you sure that’s not what they meant when they said it should be in the office?
DS actually has 3, one to carry, one at school and one at home as a spare.

You may well be right, I haven't had a response from school about it so that could be the case, I'll get him to take our one from home in with him tomorrow to keep in his bag and discuss with his tutor how to manage taking it, i remember how crazy the corridors are in secondary, i can understand him wanting to find a quiet space.

@TwinklyAmberSloth If he's in the school at registration time, he's not late.

Skiving, late bus = not in the school at the time

School should have some way of managing the codes for this.

If someone isn't in front of me when I do the register, they are absent. If they then arrive, I have to mark them late. It's not a judgement; it's a fact.

I second the smaller spacer, you can also buy them online, they’re called aerochambers. And as everyone else has said, he should keep one on him and then an emergency one in the office. Speak to school on the phone - either his head of year or form tutor about this, but just reiterated to your son that late marks don’t matter and his health is more important. I have a rule follower too so know this is easier said that done to get them to understand. Hopefully he’ll be reviewed soon by the asthma team and have a written plan in place.

One inhaler with the child, one spare kept in the medical office and the school nurse needs a copy of his asthma plan. He needs to know his own asthma plan too and where to go if the inhaler isn't helping after a certain amount of puffs. My DD is on Symbicort so it will be different but she can take up to 6 puffs, spaced about 3 minutes apart, then it's 999.

It's not a fact though. It's inaccurate.

If they are somewhere else in the school, receiving medical care, that needs to be acknowledged.

They might not be with you, but they are not absent to school, they are not late to school.

They are simply, in another part of the building.

Asthmatic here. His inhaler must be with him at all times (this includes stuff like popping to the shops, visiting friends etc). Basically it never leaves your side. He can still go somewhere quiet to use it, but he must not be away from it. If he does PE out in a field - it goes with him. If he does a cross country run, he carries it with him. It gets to be second nature after a while

Also if he's needing to take Ventolin multiple times a day then his asthma is not well controlled. You need to see your GP or the asthma nurse at your GP surgery while you wait for the hospital referral and get a steroid inhaler prescribed since he didn't have a preexisting diagnosis of asthma. The asthma nurse will write the asthma plan too. Unless you're expecting to be seen at the clinic in the next few days?

Im guessing you're a teacher, how would a school manage it if a pupil needed to take time out to take medication? Would they just keep getting detentions for being late to lessons or do schools have a way of dealing with this?

You don’t believe that a school have made a mistake? Oh how naive

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/mar/18/asthma-boy-school-death

This is why they MUST be allowed to keep their inhalers with them.

I thought all schools knew this now.

I am also a teacher. If a student is late, they're marked late. It doesn't matter why. It's an accurate reflection of where students are and when.

Students fill in a late slip with the reason for being late and if it's reasonable, nothing happens. If they make up an absolute load of nonsense and it turns out they were hiding in the toilets, it counts against them and results in a detention once it's happened twice.

It they're late to lesson, they're recorded as late to lesson. That is completely accurate.

Ah ok, maybe thats what happens then, DS has just been told late marks=detention, but maybe they don't always, I think we need to find that out, thank you.

I really disagree that a child being in the school building, being marked as absent is an accurate picture of where they are.

In most schools, this would lead to calls home, causing huge concern to parents, when the child is in fact in school.

Children with medical needs should not be punished or disincentivised from seeking help by school policies.

There should be some way of recording a child who is in school, receiving medical help.

It is of course irrelevant if you don't separate the child from their life saving medication.

How do I know that though? It's not a "best guess" situation. If Henry and Bob are both late, it matters not an iota why. I still mark them both late, even if Henry has been having a skive and Bob was at the office. That's what I am required to do.

That is awful, the poor boy and his family, every parents worst nightmare.

No of course not. The pastoral leader would know why they were being late and would intervene. But they'd still be marked as late because they were.

At the secondary school I worked at, the office/medical staff would have marked him present as he’s at school, and then added a comment to say where he was. I know different schools have different policies though.

The mark may well be able to be altered retrospectively by senior leadership/head of year or similar, or a note added to explain where he was and that the late was justified and not because he was dawdling or messing about or whatever. You do need to speak to school though, you can’t have him afraid to take life saving medication for fear of a late make. Ring and then back up with email is what I would do.