If your child has a medical condition that we need to be aware of you must inform us on our Medical Consent Form. This includes information about any prescribed medications which may need to be administered at school. Please note that we cannot administer any medication other than that prescribed by a healthcare professional.
In line with the DFE Guidance: Supporting pupils at school with medical conditions we apply the following DFE advice & principles when managing medicines on school premises
- Medicines should only be administered at Reach Academy when it would be detrimental to a child’s health or school attendance not to do so.
- No child under 16 will be given prescription or non-prescription medicines without their parent’s written consent – except in exceptional circumstances where the medicine has been prescribed to the child without the knowledge of the parents.
- A child under 16 should never be given medicine containing aspirin unless prescribed by a doctor. Medication, e.g. for pain relief, should never be administered without first checking maximum dosages and when the previous dose was taken. Parents should be informed.
- Where clinically possible, medicines should be prescribed in dose frequencies which enable them to be taken outside school hours.
- We will only accept prescribed medicines if these are in-date, labelled, provided in the original container as dispensed by a pharmacist and include instructions for administration, dosage and storage. The exception to this is insulin, which must still be in date, but will generally be available to schools inside an insulin pen or a pump, rather than in its original container.
- A child who has been prescribed a controlled drug may legally have it in their possession if they are competent to do so, but passing it to another child for use is an offence.
- Reach Academy staff may administer a controlled drug to the child for whom it has been prescribed.
