Teacher Demanding a Doctors Letter??

[RockinHippy]

This was after telling DD off, for what in fairness would be normally seen as breaking school rules, (food related) but in DDs case is a medical need if she feels ill.

Am I correct in thinking they can't actually do this ??

I have already submitted a copy of DDs full consultants medical report to the SENCO, which is very in depth & as it's a hereditary condition DD suffers with, it details some of my own medical problems so I'm not over keen on dishing out copies of it willy-nilly & don't really see why I should need to get a GPs letter, when I thought I had it all covered - I have written a letter confirming DD wasn't lying explaining why etc

They can't insist on more can they ?

TIA

No they can't insist on more.

Is this secondary? In which case can the SENCO write something in the front of the planner that DD can show a teacher if needed?
(e.g. At times DD urgently needs to eat during class due to a specific medical condition. This must always be permitted. Please contact me if you feel you require more info.)

Thanks Teen that's pretty much what I thought - I won't go in guns blazing, but will be diplomatic & firm as I'm not too pleased, just wanted to double check I was right first.

It's yr 6 Primary & it was a break time snack, she was hauled inside by one teacher who saw her eating it, but isn't her teacher & doesn't know her & DD was taken to her class teacher, who DD says also told her off, telling her she wanted a letter from me & a doctors letter confirming she/I was telling the truth

I wouldn't mind, but she's an exceptionally healthy eater, as her packed lunches show, so I feel it's a bit OTT, especially as she also suffers with anxiety - though I suppose I can see it from a teachers point of view that it didn't look good, but DD can explain it well, with medical jargon & did, they chose not to believe her :(

At our primary they have pictures of children in the staff room who have medical problems (eg nut allergy, epilepsy) and what to do about them, so all staff are aware.

Perhaps your school needs to do that, and include your DD. "DD Medical issue. Needs to eat chocolate cake every 2 hours" (or whatever).

no you don't have to provide specific information to the teacher. you have given the full confidential info to the SENCO and it is up to the SENCO to ensure that staff are aware the child has a medical condition (no details needed) which may require x y or z. There is a child in one of my daughters' classes with a serious medical condition and there are notices with his photo on in relevant places alerting staff to which child it is. I have seen it in passing when I was in helping with something, no idea what it says as I obviously didn't read it (although I know his family so know the details anyway) but it is obviously flagging up what is a severe risk to him for any adults working in the building.

I think a meeting with the teacher is important. You need to determine together how her condition will be managed and what is going to occur when she has a need to eat. You have said that her action was against school rules, so what can be done to try and still keep to the spirit of the rules but also allow her to do what she needs? Is there a quiet space she can go to when she needs to eat? Are there alternatives (eg some sweets in her pocket which she can quietly eat as opposed to pulling out a piece of cake in the middle of class), etc. Our school has no food packaging in the playground rule (students eat at their desks before going out) but if a child brought in some sweets/whatever in a small tupperware in their pocket to eat while they are out in the yard, then that's fine. Obviously I don't know the specific needs of your daughters condition, but trying to find a way of being seen to work with the school is always the best way forward. Good luck OP.

I would be making a formal complaint that not only were staff unaware of a potentially serious medical issue that they should have been aware of, that they then didn't go and check her story before telling her off. I think the members of staff involved owe her an apology and that the school need to wake up to their responsibility to ensure the safety of their pupils with medical needs.

A GP will charge for a letter, so if the school want it make sure they write to the GP directly (enclosing your signed consent) and the practice can then charge the school rather than you! I'm a GP and we get inappropriate requests from schools all the time.

I cannot see that you would need a letter but, if they insist, very good advice from dietcokefan. I have recently had to pay £20 for a GP's letter.

Thanks everyone - interesting that it's a common occurance Diet

In fairness this is a new school for DD & they have been fantastic as regards her health problems up until this incident. I've not had to ask for anything, it's all just happened - compared to the issues we had with DDs old school, where I asked & asked & was fobbed off & ignored & DD Uglies even by staff - we had to remove her from as it got so bad it's a dream.

So I'm not wanting to make a complaint - from what DD tells me the other kids say, it does sound as if the first teacher is a bit of a tyrant anyway & DDs class teacher seems to have reacted to her, rather than how she usually behaves, so I'm not going to make a big deal out of it as no major harm done, definitely not in comparison to what we became used too before DD going to this school. DD was upset, but when feeling ill, she can get overly anxious with things like this & read more into it than is happening, so I'm happy to just submit a letter & ask the SENCO to follow it up, confirm that it's true & look at ways to avoid repeats.

With DD it's a salty snack she needs, so she was caught eating a handful of crisps, easiest way to get salt into her on a very hot day, but I have also checked that she was at least being subtle as it does look bad to other kids - though I would be surprised if she wasn't, she was bullied relentlessly at her old school & doesn't like to draw attention to things like this for fear of being picked on for special treatment

Leeds GP letter here is £25, so no way will I be paying for that when I already have a very detailed consultants report - thanks to the clinic being suspended for a while & school issues got really out of hand , we had to go private, but I'm glad we did, the report we have us fantastic & covered everything in detail :)

Thanks again everyone

DD bullied - not Uglies - autocorrect gone mad

Just say you have already given the senco details so teacher should refer to her/him.
Don't get another medical report, you have given details already, unless the report didn't cover need for salty food.

Well, I take it all back - another incident today that resulted in DD getting so stressed that she ended up with a bad stomach & again the same teacher, which is one of her class teachers. - though DD does say thus teacher is snappy & grisly with all of the class, not just her.

Today's was worse as they were on a school trip, long coach journey & DD really suffers badly with travel sickness & after the letter demand on Friday, I had pre-empted any more problems & wrote a bullet point note explaining what & why I had given DD certain stuff to help minimise the likelihood of her vomiting - it's tried & tested after years of dealing with it & though she will still feel ill, it works to stop her vomiting

Teacher confiscated her iPod, which would have helped a lot by distracting DD, as explained in my letter - she frogmarched DD to the cupboard at the front of the class, whilst shouting at her for not listening to what she had been told, DD had listened - my note asked if she could use the iPod as we find it helps her / so DD was mortified & the teacher refused point blank to listen to DD trying to tell her that it was in my letter.

Followed up getting in the coach & then DD heard her loudly tell the other teacher "oh DD tried to blah that listening to music helps travel sickness, that's a new one" - no you know it all numpty - it's a well known distraction technique to help stem the anxiety that she will be sick in front of everyone & that will make her feel worse & more likely to be sick can help her doze off too - we've found it helpful for years, but ironically DDs psychotherapist gave her an NHS sheet this week with it printed on

DD was very upset by this as it was me, not her who had said to take the iPod & my letter explained why & asked if she be allowed to use it - not just for DDs sake, but surely it's better for them if she's not vomiting too

she felt very upset that she was shown up in the way she was & most if all that she wasn't believed - thankfully as it was an early start, she did manage to doze off anyway, but spent a long time at the venue in the toilet with very bad diarrhoea & felt really awful all day as a direct result of the anxiety she felt over this teachers attitude :( - she looked dreadful when I collected her :(

Oh & DD didn't see her look at the letter - until the return journey

Have you spoken to the head teacher? DS has a hereditary condition involving food and there was a teacher who kept pulling him on it, so I went in to see the head and explained to her what could happen, in his case not eating when hes hungry or being forced to finish his lunch when he's not hungry makes him vomit, then he cant go to school the next day coz of the 24 hour rule, as soon as the head realised it would affect his attendance she sorted it out and wrote him a note which she laminated to stick in his lunchbox, in case the teacher 'forgot' again.

The note says
'x has specific dietary requirements which he self-manages, medical evidence has been provided and any concerns are to be taken up with x's parents on (phone number) or with me, before discussing with x,

Thank you

Head teacher'

She also told DS to go straight to the office if a teacher wouldn't listen about the medical condition, as in literally walk away mid-telling off if he needed to.

do you have a care plan in place? DD2 has one (she also has POTS) which covers the drinking lots of water/going to the loo/sitting down whenever she needs to stuff must suggest to her we add in "must eat crisps whenever" . She also has a laminated card which says "please excuse Little Leaping from your class IMMEDIATELY on medical grounds" which she can flash at any memeber of staff and walk out (with a friend if she feels really bad). But, crucially, she has a safe place to go (medical room) where they trust her judgement and her head of house will back her up against anyone (there have been a few unsupportive teachers).

We rehashed the care plan on the Stars website (if you haven't come across it before, they have loads of helpful stuff for schools), and the school spoke to Jenni there as well (and I think bought a DVD for schools?).

The only medical stuff we've been asked to provide is a confirmation of her conditions ( i used a copy of the consultants letter to the GP and blanked out everything which I didn't feel was relevant) and that she was being advised to wear boots rather than shoes (which needed a uniform pass to stop detentions).

A care plan, drafted in easy to read bullet points for general circulation, with a school contact who knows more detail (so perhaps the SENCO) who individual teachers can check with/your DD can go straight to at any time would be the way to go IMO. PM me if you want to see DDs plan

You need to speak to the teacher.

A doctor's letter making the connection between your dd's condition and what the school actually needs to do would be very valid IMO because it is quite hard to move b/w 'littlehippy has condition XYZ' and 'must be allowed an Ipod on school trip' -at least it is a big jump for a layman to make.

Medical backup will also stop it looking like you're using her condition to avoid school rules. I know it would be nice if they would just trudt you but unfortunately quite a lot of parents due try and bend the rules to suit their dc without due cause and teachers do get quite cynical.