Asthmapolicy

Porth County Community School Ysgol Gymunedol Sir y Porth

ASTHMA POLICY

A POSITIVE APPROACH

Students with asthma are welcomed and encouraged to take a full part in all activities of the School.
ASTHMA EDUCATION
The School has a responsibility to advise all its staff (class teachers, sports teachers, breaktime
supervisors) on practical asthma management and what to do if a child has an ASTHMA ATTACK.
The school nursing service can play an important role here. The school nurse has a record of all
asthmatics within the school.
PARENTS
The School will ask all parents whether their son/daughter has asthma, therefore, it is vitally
important that parents complete and return the standard school medical summary sheet, not
forgetting to enter details of current asthma inhalers and medicines.
It is also the School's intention to issue a School Asthma Card to all students who are affected.
These cards should be completed in conjunction with the student’s family doctor or practice nurse
and carried by the student at all times.

The card will provide the school nurse/teachers with valuable information about them in the event
of an emergency.

ACCESS TO INHALERS
Students will need to have one reliever inhaler to keep at home and an additional one to take with
them to school, for use there and on the journey to and from school.
Students will also need two preventer inhalers if these have to be taken during the school day.
Reliever inhalers (e.g. Ventolin, Bricanyl) are of particular importance. IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT THE
PUPILS HAVE IMMEDIATE ACCESS TO THEIR INHALERS AT ALL TIMES. Delay in taking reliever
treatment can lead to a severe attack requiring hospital admission.
It is the policy of Porth County Community School, therefore, that all students suffering from
asthma should carry their reliever inhalers with them at all times.
It is the parents' responsibility to ensure that their child has a spare inhaler to take to school
before he/she sets out in the morning.

SPORTS
The sports teacher has a major role to play in the good management of asthma at school. The School aims for total normal activity for all but the students most severely affected with asthma. However, ASTHMA POLICY
nearly all young people with asthma can become wheezy during exercise.
Our sports teachers are aware that a number of pupils with asthma will take a dose of their reliever
inhaler before exercise. This helps to prevent exercise-induced asthma. If the student does become
wheezy or breathless, a further dose of reliever inhaler should be taken. Students who are normally
active should not be forced to participate in games if they say they are too wheezy to continue.
The student must ensure that the reliever inhaler is taken to the sports field or swimming pool.

Our sports teachers have been issued with guidelines on what to do during an asthma attack.
PASSIVE SMOKING

Our School operates a no-smoking policy.
SCIENCE LABORATORIES
The School is aware that fumes from science experiments will often trigger symptoms or attacks in pupils with asthma. Fume cupboards are, therefore, in use for potentially hazardous experiments. Science staff also have information on what to do during an asthma attack, along with the back-up of our resident school nurse. ASTHMA POLICY

Source: https://rctmoodle.org/porthcounty/file.php/2/Files/Policies/AsthmaPolicy.pdf