Is it reasonable to ask school to let my daughter self-carry medication?

[Pinky1209]

My 14 year old daughter has recently been prescribed 3 medications.
Tranexamic acid for heavy periods,
Mefenamic acid - pain relief for period pains
Mebeverine - to help with digestive abdominal discomfort.
All standard dosages.

I have informed school and the school nurse wants to keep all the medication in the nurses office. This means that if my daughter needs any medication at school, she has to visit the office to get it. The office is often not open during lesson time, which means that she can only go during break and lunch. I also wouldn’t want her taking time out of lessons to go to the nurse office regularly anyway, as she is now in Y10 and starting GCSEs.
The medications are all kind of time sensitive (within the restrictions of each prescription), for example taking at the onset of symptoms or 20 minutes before food.

It seems to me that the nurse is taking the most convenient option for the school, by wanting to keep them in the office, however this is not the best option for my child. I’m happy for her to self carry and take meds as necessary during the school day. I’d like to compromise with the school to allow her to carry meds whilst also being aware of the risks (for example other students getting hold of them).

Is it reasonable for me to ask for her to carry a small amount of meds with her? Even just what she needs for one day, with the rest kept in the nurses office? Does anyone else’s secondary school aged child carry their own meds at school? I’m sure there are plenty of students who self carry and the school don’t even know, but I would much rather be transparent with the school.

My daughter was allowed to carry her own in school at 15, so obviously some schools do allow it. I think they did ask that she just carry what she needed for the day.

My daughter’s secondary school allows it from the beginning of secondary. However, the school policy might be only from a certain age. Would the school know she had some medication in her bag though?

How would they even know? Just let her carry them and use as needed

I would not even have told the school about those sorts of medications to be honest. If you are happy that your daughter is mature enough to take them as directed, just give them to her for her bag. Why does the school need to know?
Given that the school does now know, why don’t you give some to the nurse to keep them happy then just give your daughter her own supply.
If you ask for ‘permission’ to give your daughter some and they say no, it all just becomes more awkward.

My daughter school insisted on the nurse having it.

however that really didn’t work for her (nurse’s office was miles from the classrooms) so we gave some up nurse and she carried some

I didn’t even ask when my daughter was on similar meds. She just kept them in her blazer pocket and took them when needed. She also always had paracetamol and ibuprofen because she was completely responsible in terms of managing her own health.

I've never known sny school to allow students to keep their medications on their own person's during the school day. This is because of the risk of theft or misuse. Nor have I ever encountered a school where the person charged with dispensing medications was not immediatwly available every minute of the school day.

In the case of your DD's meds, they're clearly intended for either self administration or timely access, and if the school can't guarantee timely access, then I'd kick up a stink. Accommodation for girls experiencing menstrual problems is a sex discrimination issue.

You'll have to suck up the matter of missing a bit of a class to go to the nurse. The nurse for her part should be available at all tines for all students needing medication - is she the custodian of inhalers, epipens, seizure meds, etc? She needs to be at her post 100% of the time.

I agree with those saying your DD should keep a day's supply on her. Would all of her teachers be willing to let her take the meds during class though?

It didn’t even occur to me to ask if kids at High school could have their medication on them. So DS just has is and takes it as and when. Dame for when he’s at sports etc. What’s the point in an inhaler in a school office?

The only one I’d be worried about is the mefenamic acid.

is she aware it can cause very serious issues if she takes more than the prescribed dose? Is she responsible with it?

I’d be fine with the other two, but I’d monitor that one closely to make sure she only takes what she should. I wouldn’t let her have more than one or two tabs on her at any time, and the school does need to know, as if she does exhibit the side effects they will need to know how to deal with it and advise emergency services if needed.

I’d give her the medication even if the school didn’t allow it tbh. It probably wouldn’t have occurred to me to ask.
Every girl I went to school with had painkillers in their bag, generally in a little zip purse with their tampons etc.

Schools are so weird about this. I was on various meds for my periods too and we just didn’t tell the school I was carrying them. I’m not saying that’s a good idea because it could get her in trouble but I refused to faff about with the school nurse’s hours to give myself medication I needed.

I told school because firstly they should be aware if a student is taking prescription medication at school. Secondly because I don’t want her to get in trouble if she ever had a random bag search. Thirdly because I want school to be understanding if she is ill while at school, and they can’t look after her properly if they don’t know the whole situation. Fourthly because the school need to manage risk with regards to other students.
I did discuss with my daughter about her just keeping the tablets in her bag and not telling the school, but she wanted to be upfront with school so that she has the support she needs if necessary. Working in a school myself and after having an incident of a student overdosing on paracetamol whilst at school last year (thankfully only a small amount and they were absolutely fine) I agreed with her that this was the right thing to do.

Agree re Mefenamic acid, my plan with this is for her to just have 1 tablet on her at any time.

Thanks for the replies, I appreciate it! I’ll go back to the nurse and suggest she has a 1 day supply on her. Seems like a fair compromise!

Don’t those meds tend to be quite well spaced out through the day though? So if she takes her first lot of tablets before she goes to school and the third dosage after school, then won’t she only need to take them once while she’s at school? In that case, I’d just keep them in her blazer pocket and self administer.

This was my first thought, @Pinky1209 - your dd could hand some of the medication in at the office and keep some secreted in her bag - just tell her to take them surreptitiously.

My DD took painkillers in and kept them in her blazer for pain relating to migraines, until the school office found out and asked us to ensure they were handed in. This happened in about year 9 I think and continued into sixth form! She was very responsible and decided eventually with our agreement to keep them on her and just took them when needed as it was a nuisance having to leave a lesson. The reason the school gave was in case of an ambulance needing to be called and medics needing to administer pain relief. I kind of understand this thinking but she always kept a mental note of when she had taken them and would have been able to communicate that, unless unconscious of course.

Anyway that’s what we did. I was surprised they insisted for sixth form. She was only there a few months before moving to a FE college where students self medicated. Her inhaler was kept in her bag. Never heard of them having to be handed in, only in primary.