Our primary school says if children need medicine at specific times 'pop' in & DIY

[wonkywillow]

Surely this penalises busy working parents, with occupations where they can't just 'pop' in? Or a parent who simply has other pressing commitments..

Can schools actually do this? They seem to be negating their responsibilities towards providing education and support for children with long term medical conditions that require regular medication.

Of my ds school (secondary) lost their school nurse and the other staff refused to give his medication - where would I stand?

It has to be taken 4 times a day, nits within 4 hours of last dose and must be in body regularly because it's one that's washed out through kidneys iyswim? It's not a medication that can just be stopped there are withdrawal procedures.
Without it he would have a medical episode (trying to be non outing!). It's not a behaviour drug but one he needs to keep his body functioning at optimum level.

You have to be a lioness for your own child.

What a ridiculous statement.

thenavigator
They are getting a hard time because they are being massively unreasonable
If they had said 'I have a child with X need. In the school newsletter it says y. This seems off to me and I am concerned about the following things. Do you think it's worth contacting the school?'
Then I'd bet that 90% of replies if not more would be saying 'absolutely contact the school. It might be that there are things in place for other situations but call them up for a chat'.

But that's not what the OP has done.
They've decided

1. There's something in their school newsletter
2. Therefore schools are failing in their duty
3. That they are being discriminated against
4. That there is systemic discrimination against working parents (obvs fine for stay at home parents to go in)
5. That schools are gaslighting
6. That hey need to shed light on this big conspiracy and they are doing it via mumsnet

All the way through this thread I have said to the OP if they have a concern about THEIR school then as a parent they are absolutely correct to contact school, seek clarification or make a complaint.

However they are totally unreasonable to start extrapolating to a highly diverse sector and creating some sort of silly victim narrative they've got going on. It's nonsensical.

See that's what worries me.

I'd have to take unpaid leave until they found someone to provide the medication.

The affect on family would be huge - rent and bills don't stop.

I'm not worried it'll happen because his school are brilliant and I'm sure they'd arrange an alternative before the nurse contact ended.

But this is t really simplistic situation with a simple answer

You have to be a lioness for your own child.

What a ridiculous statement.

What, exactly, is ridiculous about it? A family member had to take her LA to court to get her child's needs met. That is what I mean. When it comes to advocating for your child, you can be all compliant for fear of being 'that parent' or you can do what is best for your child, however unpopular that makes you. I know which I admire.

I am not impressed by the posters seeking to find situations where a child's needs can't be met in their determination to have a go at the OP. It does you no credit to be desperately searching for ways a child with additional needs would just have to be excluded. Inclusiveness may not always be easy but it is right - both legally and morally..

Maisy, people can read their posts for myself. You don't have to (inaccurately) attempt to summarise them along with your own twist on them. Why is it, I wonder, do you feel obliged to do this almost every time a poster posts to agree with what I have said?

And I was at pains to point out, several times, I do not value working parents' time more than SAHP's time. I am a SAHP myself.

Really, it does not really matter what my situation is, though. The facts remain. A school's responsibilities to administer medication to children, who need it, still remain. The fact that it is misleading to tell parents that they need to 'pop' in to administer medication at specific times, via a newsletter, still remains.

It seems to come down to the fact that schools have too many legal obligations and priorities to be able to cater for them all with the current budgets and staffing issues. Obviously every parent wants their child to get everything they're entitled to, but when people from schools explain why that isn't always possible, the answer seems to be something like "well they need to budget better and prioritise this thing that I care about". A different parent might be asking for EAL provision to be prioritised, another parent might be asking for special provision for their gifted child, another parent might want more money to be available for EPs to do tests with children with possible learning difficulties. All of those things are reasonable expectations and can be backed up by government documents, but it seems like it's simply not possible to do them all. Perhaps the head has looked at the context and decided that something else is a more urgent use of the money, we don't know. Instead of focussing on a tug-of-war with other priorities in schools, you'd be better off diverting your attention to the people who can change it, especially as you say this doesn't actually affect you OP.

They said they weren't sure why yoy had a hard time from some of us. I explained why some of us think you are being unreasonable.
Really, it does not really matter what my situation is, though. The facts remain
Of course it does!

If YOU have an issue with YOUR school or wish to have clarification regarding YOUR CHILD'S medication then you are absolutely well within your rights to contact the school. If having done that they are failing in their care then you would be absolutely right to follow the school complaints procedure and complain.

What you are totally and utterly unreasonable to do is take a statement in a newsletter, assume that means pupils with needs have been told their needs won't be met, make a whole load of assumptions, extrapolate it to an education system which you have claimed you are trying to shed light on via mumsnet and then claim gaslighting and discrimination and get annoyed with anyone who doesn't agree with you or thinks it's utterly bizarre.

I am not impressed by the posters seeking to find situations where a child's needs can't be met in their determination to have a go at the OP
I can only speak for myself but my issue has nothing to do with SEND or medical needs.
If a particular school has said that a child with a medical need or SEND need can't be catered for then it needs following up & the school must make reasonable adjustements and/or give training.

However what we have here is a generic statement in a newsletter about medicines at specific times. Medicines can mean anything from child with long temr medical conditon to 'timmy is under the weather ao give him calpol please'. 2 different situations. (I'm secondary. We don't generally administer paracetamol or ibruprofen etc but we have a fridge and keep some medicines locked away and our first aiders deal with them).

If the OP needs clarification on a statement in the newsletter then they should contact the school for clarification.
If the OP has a child with a need requiring reasonable adjustments and they are not being met, they should contact the school.
If they have a reason to raise a concern about that school and their handling of medicines then they should contact the school.

What they can't do is start claiming discrimination against groups of parents or start making broad and sweeping statements about medicines in schools and then playing the victim when people point out that they are being totally unreasonable.

If the OP needs clarification on a statement in the newsletter then they should contact the school for clarification.
If the OP has a child with a need requiring reasonable adjustments and they are not being met, they should contact the school.
If they have a reason to raise a concern about that school and their handling of medicines then they should contact the school.

Of course I can do all of those things.

However I can also support other parents to do those things. I can also raise discussion of this subject within school and as I have done, on Mumsnet and amongst other groups of interested parties.

Of course I can do all of those things
And yet you seem to have zero intention of doing any of those things and are more bothered about trying to find things to confirm some sector wide conspiracy than actually deal with the issue in your own school and get annoyed with anyone who points out it is unreasonable to try and maoe generalisation based on something in one school's newsletter.

If I applied your logic I could argue:

• all schools are horrible to work in
• all heads don't give a shit about their
• parents as a group are awful individuals who just love to kick off over nothing because it makes them seem powerful
• all teachers are lazy sods who can't be bothered and are
• teenagers are apathetic and don't care and want their grades handing to them on a

etc. Of course I wouldn't do that because just because i have experienced some things like that in education, it doesn't make it the norm.

All bit hot air give me an echo chamber.

And yet you seem to have zero intention of doing any of those things

You know absolutely nothing of my intentions. Posting on Mumsnet does not preclude from me taking any other action whatsoever.

By like this I mean the propagating of ideas that schools/teachers don’t care and won’t help.

I did nothing of the sort zzzzz. Some of the teachers posting on this thread did that 'propagation' all by themselves. How different this thread could have been if they were demonstratively more caring and supportive in their posts.

How different this thread could have been if they were demonstratively more caring and supportive in their posts.
You mean teachers (lile me) saying countless times that if someone has an issue with THEIR school or needs clarification with THEIR school's policy or needs to complain about THEIR school then they should absolutely speak to school.

I am more than willing to back parents against SLT when required. I defend the rughts of parents to raise complain when needed. I'm just not up for searchinb for sector wide conspiracies and claiming discrimination/gaslightinb against parents or playing the victim card where there's no substance.

Jesus Christ OP, you still here? Haven’t you got some parenting to do or something?

Haven’t you got some parenting to do or something?

What at 11 at night? If you must know I am recovering from surgery as part of my cancer treatment. Hence I have the time to spend posting.

SuburbanRhonda
They're too busy trying to be the victim by suggesting teachers on here are mean and nasty for repeatedly saying if you have issues or concerns then speak to the school but please don't make silly generalisations and claim discrimination.

You mean teachers (lile me) saying countless times that if someone has an issue with THEIR school or needs clarification with THEIR school's policy or needs to complain about THEIR school then they should absolutely speak to school.

I don't think it is that, that people are taking issue with. It is the comments that claim schools have no legal obligation whatsoever to administer medication to their pupils who need it.

I’m not just talking about now. I’m amazed you’re not exhausted with constantly banging on about the same thing over and over, especially if you’re unwell.

Well, Suburban, thankfully, I was much the same whilst undergoing chemo too.