What would you do about this potentially dangerous situation?

[colditz]

My children were taken to a pantomime by the school this afternoon. They were half an hour late back for pick up time.

They were both told to leave leave their bags behind, which contain their inhalers. Both children asthmatic.

Ds1 is autistic, and cannot be relied upon to communicate distress. He was in difficulty by the time I picked him up from the theatre, due to not having access to his inhalers.

I've told the school how angry I am, and how dangerous this decision was, and also that I will not be sending ds1 on the school trip next year, which is four nights away from home, as they couldn't even keep him safe for two hours.

Have I over reacted? What would you do?

Have just spoken to my mum. She said to threaten to sue them if necessary, to get them to understand how seriously I am taking this breach of trust.

I am going to get a doctors note to give to the school tomorrow. I feel so panicky at the thought of battling with the school, I'm suffering with depression, and a head cold (which is trivial but has affected my voice, which affects my confidence) and I could just so do without this. All of it. I seem to spend half my life arguing with the senco, ds1s class teacher is brilliant for the first time since reception, this is the first fluff he's made. I'm so sad to have to ramp up the emotion again when I thought I could relax.

Very bad policy of the school.

At ours inhalers / epipens etc are kept in the first aid box, which goes with the class.

When I have helped on school trips, if a DC in my group needed one it was given to me with a sheet to sign if used, and they checked that I was comfortable assisting child if Teacher / TA was not around, if not child was switched groups.

Is there a Governer with responsibility for Health & Safety? They should be made aware.

Ditto above. Ds's primary, all asthma inhalers plus epipens etc carried in a labelled box by a TA or teacher to all out of school events. Children not allowed to carry them on their own persons for reasons mentioned above (children messing about with them). (Although I like the idea of yr 6s being allowed to have them to get used to the independence required at secondary).

Shockingly bad practice on your school's part. DOn't worry at all about complaining.

Echo all the others - all medication stored (along with names, dosage details etc) in a secure box in the office. Log kept of every time a child takes medication. When we leave the site for any reason, the staff of each class take the medication for their class / group (so if, for example, we go on a trip and the class is subdivided into groups, the adult with each subgroup will carry the medication for the children in that group with them).

Complain - but in a 'your inhaler policy is bad and leads to children's health being endangered' way (to make it better for everyone) rather than a 'my children should have taken their bags' way IYSWIM - sort the root problem and the rest will follow.

They have boo-booed big time. This could have been a life-threatening situation. Luckily it wasn't. The school should be pleased that although your DS was distressed he wasn't harmed more seriously on this one occasion due to their mistake and should change their policy from tomorrow to ensure that nothing serious ever happens again.

If this is the first mistake the teacher has made in 4 years I think you should give him a chance to explain first.

Something has obviously gone wrong but please don't jump straight to talk of sueing the school. I'm sure you'll have a much more productive discussion if you take the tack suggested by teacherwith2kids above. Luckily no harm was done on this occasion, make your objective to ensure that it doesn't happen again.

When my DCs have been on residential trips all medicines have been labelled up and kept by a teacher with instructions on their useage.

Yes, think pp is sensible. When you feel a bit calmer take a deep breath and go and talk to the class teacher about what happened. Why were the bags left? Who is in charge of medication? What is the policy on trips out for this? Clearly the policy went wrong on this occasion, you want to ensure it doesn't go wrong again.

Do you have a contact number for the school nurse linked with your school? They should be able to help you with your concerns. The school should have at the very least a medicines policy, and many schools now have an asthma policy too. Ask to see their policies and highlight where these weren't adhered to. Contact Asthma UK's adviceline for support if you're finding it hard.

Ask to see the medicine policy tomorrow and make a formal complaint.

Complain in writing. Then it will be recorded and they will need to act (one would hope!).

I've spoken to asthma uk, and am waiting for a call back from the gp - I'm going to ask him to write a letter to the school, outlining the importance of having life saving medication within reach.

I haven't sent my children to school today. I just couldn't.

This is so wrong. Every time DD has been on a school trip I have had to fill in a form stating what medication she has been on so that the teachers can take inhalers/epipens/other medication with them in case any child needs treatment.

This must be against all heath and safety guidelines and is very poor practice.

No, you're right to be angry, but rightly or wrongly considering its the school's responsibility, I always double check they are taking my son's inhaler giving an extra inhaler for trips to the organiser - so the original stays in the office. But I'm a bit of a control freak.