Please read and agree to the below before completing the request to administer medication.
School staff have the right to refuse to administer medication at any point. There is no automatic right to receive medication while in school.
Wherever possible, medication should be administered at home before/after the school day. School will only administer medication where it is not possible to administer all doses at home.
Administering Medicines
No child under 16 will be given medicines without their parent's written consent. Medicines will only be provided in the doses agreed and specified on the packaging or medical professional instructions, or in accordance with the child’s health care plan.
Medications that are not within the originally dispensed bottle/packaging and clearly labeled with the child's name and class will not be administered. For tablets, these must be within the original box - school will not accept blister packets alone.
Medications that require administering will only be done so with the appropriate dosage spoon or syringe, which must be provided with the medication in the original box/pharmacy bag. It is expected that where a syringe is provided there is also a syringe cap on the medication bottle.
Please note, school will only administer 1 dose of medication per day. Should your child require 3 doses in a day (e.g antibiotics), it is expected that they receive one dose before school, and the final dose after school. For 4 doses, a dose could be given after school and one before bed.
Self-Management
It is good practice to support and encourage children, who are able, to take responsibility to manage their own medicines. The use of asthma inhalers, for example, is encouraged for children of all ages.
As children grow and develop, they should be encouraged to participate in decisions about their medicines and to take responsibility. Older children with a long-term illness should, whenever possible, assume complete responsibility under the supervision of their parents. Children develop at different rates and so the ability to take responsibility for their own medicines varies. This should be borne in mind when making a decision about transferring responsibility to a child.
While in school, children ine Year Four and above are expected to remember to attend for their medication, and will be given the measured dosage to administer themselves, unless it is deemed that this is not appropriate.
With the exception of emergency intervention medication (i.e. epipens and inhalers), children must not carry any medication on their person. This includes cough sweets such as jakeman's or hall's/strepsils. All medication must be signed in via this form and provided to the school office to be stored securely.
Non-Prescription Medication
It is strongly recommended that non-prescription medication is not administered by schools. However, we recognise that sometimes a developing child may require a pain relief to get them through the school day to avoid absence. School will not administer any medication containing aspirin.
With the exception of allergy medication (Piriton/Piriteze), non-prescription medicines will not be administered or held in school for a continuous period of over one week. This includes paracetamol and homeopathic medicines for 'ad-hoc' use.
Parents are expected to collect medication at the end of the dosage period. For any medication left in school, parents will be invited to collect, however if the medication is not collected within one week of this invitation, school will dispose of it.
Medications held in school will be checked every four weeks by the office team, and any out-of-date medication will be disposed of.