The Health Conditions in School Alliance, a coalition of over 30 charities including Crohn’s & Colitis UK, successfully campaigned to change the law in 2014 so that all schools in England are required to have policies in place to support any child with long-term medical conditions.
But three years after this new law came into force, research by the Alliance has revealed that nine in ten schools in England are not able to show they have these policies and support in place. This is because they are either not aware of the law, or do not understand what it means for them in practice.
In response to these findings, on Monday 23 October, families and charities came together to lobby their MPs to call on the Minister for Children and Families to take action now to ensure all schools in England know that they are legally required to have medical conditions policies, and to publish these policies on their websites.
To make sure that these policies are actually being followed, the Alliance is also calling on the Minister to ask school regulator Ofsted to look at these policies, and their implementation, during inspections.
The lack of support for children with IBD at school is a real issue and it’s something that the Government need to act on now. Not giving children the holistic support they may require can deny them the same access to education as other children in their class. This can have a profound impact on their educational attainment and personal development. Every child with IBD deserves the same chance to succeed.
Elliot James
Young People & Families Development Officer
A petition, started by Louise Fyfe-Taylor, whose child with Type 1 Diabetes suffered from lack of support, and is now backed by almost 50,000 people calling on the Minister for Children and Families to take action to ensure schools have a medical conditions policy. This was submitted to the Department of Education following the lobby day.
