Jess will be transfering to secondary school in September. Can anyone offer any advice on what I need to do in order to make the transition smooth with regards to her diabetes. If anyone has experience of a diabetic child moving from primary to secondary school could you offer me some advice on how it might be different in secondary school with regard to diabetes management? Currently Jess visits the medical room each lunch time to do her test and then deliver insulin for her packed lunch. The prospectus at secondary school mentions that the medical room is only used for the purposes of a child taking ill suddenly during the school day and is not intended as a point of reference for pupils with ongoing medical conditions/illnesses. Jess will be buying lunch at school once in secondary rather than taking a packed lunch, are there any points I need to consider and raise about this when I meet with the school? My son, who is at a different secondary school, says that sometimes if he's late to lunch they will be sold out of a lot of things. What measures can I put in place to make sure this doesn't happen for Jess, she may be late every day as she'll need to wash hands and test first. I'll be meeting with the school before the end of this school year so want to have all my questions thought of before I meet with them.
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Transfer to secondary school
- Thread starter SophiaW
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jane started secondary school last sept. all bs have to be done in medical room so are injections. she carrys allher own kit with her. reason for medical room is a girl may be needle phobic or scream at the sight of blood!!!!!!! thank god my daughter doesn.t!!!!!!. lunch is bought at break. eating in class if necessary is fine. jane carries a purple card for diabetes which she may leave the class if needs to test ? hypo or need the loo more if hyper.jane has not made a secret about diabetes although we have had many problems with denial and illness early term.talk to the welfare assistant and her head of year and form tutor. i doubt if she will be the only one so ensure she gets a buddy to keep her company. don.t forget the care plan from the pdsn they can chat yo school too. good luck xxxx
hanadr
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As a retired teacher, I'd suggest you try to get a meeting with the Special Needs co-ordinator or SENCO. That teacher has considerable power and also knows all the protocols and should be able to advise you. The school needs to know about diabetic children in its care, just in case something does go awry . All staff need to know what to do so as not to make a situation worse. In a big secondary school, there are likely to be several diabetics, both adults and children, on site. Before I retired from a 1200pupil school, I knew of at least 4 people. So did the SENCO
Hana
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Thanks, yes I have made an appointment to see the relevant person at the secondary school but want to make sure there aren't any questions I should be asking her that I might overlook. Secondary school will be different to primary school and I want to make sure I don't overlook anything.
Elaine, thank you I will see if they can buddy her with another diabetic. I need to find out at the meeting but as far as I understand the medical room is not available for testing and injecting (although Jess doesn't need to inject as she's on a pump), so I'm wondering where they are meant to do this? I will find out at the meeting but I'm really hoping they don't suggest the toilets! Good idea about the card, will see if a similar system is in place.
Elaine, thank you I will see if they can buddy her with another diabetic. I need to find out at the meeting but as far as I understand the medical room is not available for testing and injecting (although Jess doesn't need to inject as she's on a pump), so I'm wondering where they are meant to do this? I will find out at the meeting but I'm really hoping they don't suggest the toilets! Good idea about the card, will see if a similar system is in place.
Hello Jess' Mum
I remember my son's transfer to Secondary School very well indeed. He was diagnosed with Type 1 in February of Year 6 Primary School right before the SATS tests, so it was not long before he had to make the change and I was very daunted by it.
If you are not already familiar with the layout of Jess' new school, then it would be useful to be shown around at your appointment - so you can see where the medical room is and how far it might be from the dining hall. This may prompt you to ask questions around how the school would deal with pre-lunch checks - or whether in fact it would be better to test in the dining hall (which is what my son does).
Similarly, you may want to ask questions about how the school would deal with a hypo in class? Jess is likely to become increasingly self-conscious about having hypos in front of other people. Would she be treated in situ, or would she be moved to the medical room and if so, how would they manage this in terms of someone accompanying her, or sending for a wheelchair etc,? Again, your questions would really depend on the size and layout of the school.
Apart from the size of the school site, the other big difference will probably be that her class teachers will not have good awareness of her condition. There will always be supply staff and ancilliary staff and new staff - who simply will not be as familiar with individual students as they would be in primary school. To compensate for this, it could be useful if Jess is placed in a tutor group/class with an existing friend or friends, if possible. These friends could be invaluable for accompanying Jess if she needs to leave the classroom or perhaps to remind teaching staff of why Jess is not herself in the event of a hypo.
Discuss with the school whether Jess will need to be allowed to leave class early for lunch breaks (maybe with a pass card) or to have a 'queue jumping' pass card for the dining hall, whereby her and one friend can skip ahead to get food instead of waiting - especially if she has bolused beforehand.
The school cafeteria has instructions never to refuse Hugh food (even if he has no money) and always to allow him to finish eating his lunch, even if he is late and due back in class. These could be things you could think about too.
The biggest tip I have is to work in a friendly and co-operative way with the school, rather than to make demands upon them. Even though they have to make reasonable adjustments, it's as well to thank them for their consideration and get them on-side.
My son is now in Year 10 and has no issues at all with managing his condition in school. He has a great team of Support Staff in the office who do not hesitate to call or email me if they have any concerns at all. Likewise, I have sometimes sent Hugh into school with an unsuitable setting on his pump (e.g. on a Monday he has gone in with his 'weekend' insulin profile still running). The school have been only too happy to send a note to his class with my instructions.
Like you, I was concerned how he would get on, but although it took a while to get his management in school really right for him, we have done so to the point where I really feel he is as safe there as he is with me.
In fact, Hugh's school now has about 6 or 7 students with diabetes (2 on pumps) and the Head of Special Needs has been talking to me about bringing them together in some way for mutual support to try and help those who aren't managing theirs so well in school. How good is that??
Good luck. I hope Jess enjoys her new school.
I remember my son's transfer to Secondary School very well indeed. He was diagnosed with Type 1 in February of Year 6 Primary School right before the SATS tests, so it was not long before he had to make the change and I was very daunted by it.
If you are not already familiar with the layout of Jess' new school, then it would be useful to be shown around at your appointment - so you can see where the medical room is and how far it might be from the dining hall. This may prompt you to ask questions around how the school would deal with pre-lunch checks - or whether in fact it would be better to test in the dining hall (which is what my son does).
Similarly, you may want to ask questions about how the school would deal with a hypo in class? Jess is likely to become increasingly self-conscious about having hypos in front of other people. Would she be treated in situ, or would she be moved to the medical room and if so, how would they manage this in terms of someone accompanying her, or sending for a wheelchair etc,? Again, your questions would really depend on the size and layout of the school.
Apart from the size of the school site, the other big difference will probably be that her class teachers will not have good awareness of her condition. There will always be supply staff and ancilliary staff and new staff - who simply will not be as familiar with individual students as they would be in primary school. To compensate for this, it could be useful if Jess is placed in a tutor group/class with an existing friend or friends, if possible. These friends could be invaluable for accompanying Jess if she needs to leave the classroom or perhaps to remind teaching staff of why Jess is not herself in the event of a hypo.
Discuss with the school whether Jess will need to be allowed to leave class early for lunch breaks (maybe with a pass card) or to have a 'queue jumping' pass card for the dining hall, whereby her and one friend can skip ahead to get food instead of waiting - especially if she has bolused beforehand.
The school cafeteria has instructions never to refuse Hugh food (even if he has no money) and always to allow him to finish eating his lunch, even if he is late and due back in class. These could be things you could think about too.
The biggest tip I have is to work in a friendly and co-operative way with the school, rather than to make demands upon them. Even though they have to make reasonable adjustments, it's as well to thank them for their consideration and get them on-side.
My son is now in Year 10 and has no issues at all with managing his condition in school. He has a great team of Support Staff in the office who do not hesitate to call or email me if they have any concerns at all. Likewise, I have sometimes sent Hugh into school with an unsuitable setting on his pump (e.g. on a Monday he has gone in with his 'weekend' insulin profile still running). The school have been only too happy to send a note to his class with my instructions.
Like you, I was concerned how he would get on, but although it took a while to get his management in school really right for him, we have done so to the point where I really feel he is as safe there as he is with me.
In fact, Hugh's school now has about 6 or 7 students with diabetes (2 on pumps) and the Head of Special Needs has been talking to me about bringing them together in some way for mutual support to try and help those who aren't managing theirs so well in school. How good is that??
Good luck. I hope Jess enjoys her new school.
Sandra, that is lovely thank you, gives me a lot to think about and some extra questions to ask when we have our visit. It is lovely to hear that your son has got on very well with the school with regard to his diabetes. I really hope the same will happen for Jess. The school does have an excellent reputation and I'm hoping that they will be very supportive of Jess with her diabetes.
