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Diabetic boy, 4, in school ban

EDUCATION chiefs are repeatedly barring a four-year-old Burton boy from school because he is diabetic.

News - Mum Julie Edwards, Ellis,4, and Natalia, 2

News - Mum Julie Edwards, Ellis,4, and Natalia, 2

Staffordshire County Council has excluded Ellis Edwards, of Foston Avenue, Horninglow, from Castle Park Infant School, in Tutbury Road, on six separate occasions since September, because the nurse who gives him life-saving injections of insulin has herself been off sick.

His mother, Julie, 38, who was previously forced to give up her 20-year banking career to care for her son, has accused education chiefs of 'discrimination' and insisted they are damaging her son's schooling and harming him psychologically.

Instead of banning him whenever the nurse is off, she wants them to cater for Ellis' needs by allowing staff to inject him or letting her visit the school at lunchtime to do it herself.

Ellis needs four injections of insulin a day to ensure the Type One diabetes he was diagnosed with when he was just 21 months old does not kill him by overloading his body with sugar.

Education chiefs refused to provide them but South Staffordshire Primary Care Trust funded a full-time nurse so the youngster had the help he needed when he started school in September.

Ellis was initially forced to wait outside school until the nurse arrived, a situation which changed in October, when his mother agreed to stay with him until the worker turned up.

However, Mrs Edwards' fears were rekindled when the school decided to bar the child whenever the nurse was off sick - a situation which has occurred on six days in five months.

The school says it will only allow Ellis to stay at school if his mother remains on site throughout the six-hour day and administers the crucial lunchtime injection of insulin.

Mrs Edwards insists she is unable to meet the demand because she is having to juggle the demands of caring for her other child, Natalia, two, with retraining for a job in child care.

The former Lloyds TSB team leader, who is now on benefits, claims the school's stance is particularly unfair because it not only has a member of staff with diabetes, but helps care for another diabetic child and allows her mother to visit at lunchtimes to give her insulin.

In the meantime, she says Ellis is not only missing out on the educational and social benefits of school, but losing his enthusiasm, becoming more 'clingy' and needing more assurance.

Mrs Edwards said: "I feel angry they can do such a thing to a little boy who can't make it stop and has done nothing in his life to deserve such awful treatment.

"With his health problems he's got enough in his life to deal with without this. At the end of the day it's discrimination and is stripping him of his confidence.

"I want them to stop excluding him and treat him like other children. I am not asking for anything extra, I'm asking for what everyone else takes for granted."

A county council spokesman said Ellis' safety and well being were 'of paramount importance' to the school.

She said: "A PCT-funded nurse has been brought in to give Ellis one-to-one care while he is in school. Two other nurses have also been trained to monitor and care for his complex medical needs.

"Unfortunately, there have been occasions in which the trained personnel have not been available for various reasons. Ellis' mother was invited into school so that she could provide emergency cover when the trained team was unavailable but, unfortunately, she was unable to attend. In these instances, for his safety and well being, Ellis' mum was asked to keep him at home."

The spokesman said the school and PCT were working closely together to ensure repeat forced absences were kept to a minimum.

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Diabetic boy, 4, in school ban
Posted By: anon on 23-Dec-2009
this ia illegal - http://www.sinclairslaw.co.uk/

Ellis
Posted By: John on 05-Mar-2008
As afather to an 11 year old son with type1 diabetes I am very disturbed at the extremely unhelpful and inflexible attitude of Castle Park Infant School. However I am even more angry and amazed at the remarks of A Smith which I have just read. In the case of son's primary school in Aberdeenshire class teachers have provided excellent support in helping both my son and my family manage his diabetes through the school day, and making special arrangements for school trips away from home. It is sad that other schools cannot be as accommodating and even more sad that the views of A Smith exist. Mrs Edwards clearly cares where as A Smith does not appear to care less.

Reply to A Smith
Posted By: Jane Turner on 05-Mar-2008
A Smith, If you had bothered to read the article you will know that Mrs Edwards offered to go in at lunch time to do the injection but the school refused. However, it's not just a case of an injection at lunch time with diabetes. A child with diabetes can have a low blood glucose attack at any time. Low blood glucose levels can result in convulsions, unconsciousness, coma and death if not treated appropriately with something like glucose tablets. Many children with diabetes have at least one low blood glucose level a day, they are unavoidable if tight control is to be achieved and are difficult to avoid in children who's level of activities tend to vary so much from day to day. Tight control is needed to avoid the long term complications of diabetes are to be avoided in 10 to 20 years time; complications like blindness, kidney failure, amputation, heart disease, etc, It's for this reason that a child with diabetes needs some kind of support throughout the day, not just at lunchtime. Most schools manage to provide the necessary support by having teachers and/or classroom helpers trained to help the child. It's only because this school has refused to provide this support that the nurse appears to be necessary in this case. It's the first time I've heard of a nurse being provided in the UK and it should not be necessary.

Ellis
Posted By: Anna Hunter on 05-Mar-2008
I feel the argument put forward by A Smith is so ill informed and ignorant that it hardly warrants a considered response. However, as a primary teacher and a Mother of a 2 year old daughter with type one diabetes I must respond. Finding it "ludicrous" that teachers attend training in such issues is deeply concerning. Any good teacher appreciates that in order for a child to learn and enjoy learning they must be happy, healthy and secure within the environment. For a child with Type One this means that they have to be able to trust that their teacher/carer understands the condition and what care/treatment they will require in certain situations. Whether it be a child with asthma, epilepsy, allergies or cystic fibrosis, ALL children deserve to be cared for and not made to feel a burden to the school. A Smith, you say your children's needs were met at Castle Park, you have not given details of what these needs were and whether they were medical or not. Clearly Castle Park is not meeting the needs of all children,as Mrs Edwards has indicated. I would put it to you that Mrs Edwards is pursuing this matter because she does care. She is asking for nothing more than any other child is entitled to.

Ellis
Posted By: Debbie Pritchard on 05-Mar-2008
i was totally outraged by A Smith and her comments regarding the treatment of Ellis. The Mother of Ellis cares very deeply for her son and far from causing him damage she is trying her hardest to make his life as normal as possible. How fortunate she is not to have to deal with this life threatening condition 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The Mother may also need to work and not be able to go into the school every day to give her son a life saving injection. School are happy to give injections for Nut Allergy or treat children with asthma why should type 1 diabetes be any different. On the basis that A Smith is clearly totally ignorant about such matters i suggest you remove her comments immediately as she is only going to cause offense and upset to a family that have all ready had to deal with far too much.

Ellis
Posted By: Liz Harpum on 05-Mar-2008
Oh dear. A Smith clearly didn't read the article very carefully. It says that the school would NOT allow Ms Ellis to go into school to give her childs care while the nurse was absent. It seems to me that Ms Ellis merely wants the care her son receives to be consistant and reliable so that he can attend school throughout the whole school year. I have never met Ms Ellis but from the article and emails I have read she appears to be a caring parent who is putting her son's needs first. As to staff trainig: the government guidelines require school to provide staff to give medicines in school, they just don't enforce the guidelines. My daughte'rs primary school teachers all wanted to have training on diabetes management so that they knew what to expect and how to asisst my daughter when required. I also think A Smith should refrain from making personal attacks on Ms Ellis.

Diabetic Boy 4, in school ban
Posted By: Fiona Faure on 05-Mar-2008
Sadly, A Smith's ignorance with regards to Type I diabetes is so obvious. For those that don't know it, type I diabetes is a chronic long term medical condition which currently has no cure. A person with diabetes is classified as disabled although this is not always obvious. Unfortunately for school teachers, the Government decided that all children should attend mainstream schools including those with medical conditions which in turn means that the school are responsible for looking after their medical needs whilst at school. It is only through her caring that Mrs Edwards felt the need to challenge the school.

Ellis
Posted By: Nikki Ritchie on 05-Mar-2008
I am astounded at A Smith’s offensive remarks. Surely it is not too much to ask that Ellis’s medical needs are catered for in school. A Smith is missing the point, that Ellis’s mum cannot be expected to be on call 6 hours a day every day in the school building in order for her child to have access to the education to which he is entitled. She has another child to care for at home, and I fail to understand why the school cannot be more helpful when the current situation is so obviously detrimental to Ellis’s education, general wellbeing and health. Ellis mum is doing exactly what all mums who care do- fighting for the best for her child under very difficult circumstances. My son has Type 1 diabetes and his school are most accommodating, and have gone out of their way to support my son and let him carry on his school life without feeling that he is in any way different to the other children in the class. This is most important for children who are coping with a very difficult and challenging situation. Diabetes is difficult enough- is this really too much to ask? Perhaps if A Smith had experience of living with a child who has a life threatening and chronic condition, had experience of waking every morning of every new day wondering whether that child would be alive or dead in their bed, had experience of the unpredictable and dangerous swings of blood sugar that diabetes causes, had experience of the terrifying prospect of someone in whose care you had entrusted your child being unwilling to inform themselves or understand the seriousness of the condition, perhaps then A Smith would feel qualified to offer an opinion. Clearly he/she does not.

CARE in school
Posted By: Julia Alexander on 05-Mar-2008
I would like to respond to A Smith's comments by asking whether they believe every child has an equal right to be safe in school? If they believed their child was not being kept safe or given the equal chance of an education in school what would they do about it to show they CARE? It is not as simple as administering a lunchtime injection, a diabetic child needs monitoring during the whole day as a life threatening hypo can occur at anytime, blood tests need to be undertaken, snacks given etc. My diabetic daughter does not need a nurse because her school understands her needs and go out of their way to keep her safe. They deal with both her medical and psychological needs. They believe that each child has different needs to be addressed and every child is an individual and matters, whether their needs are academic, behavioral or medical. Mrs Edwards obviously CARES greatly for her son and realises that as much as she would like to she cannot be with Ellis 24/7. It is always hard for a parent to send a child to school for the first time and trust in the school to keep them safe, but we all know that this is an essential part of growing up. For the parent of a diabetic child this is so much harder and sometimes made impossible by unsupportive schools. Mrs Edwards CARES so much she even had to resort to going to the press to highlight the failing of Castle Park. I think A Smith comments are at best ignorant. Making judgment on a situation that they obviously know nothing about and then having the cheek to accuse the mother of not caring is unforgivable. You would hope that other parents of children at the school would be offering support and understanding.

'Care' for our children!
Posted By: Jacqui Double on 05-Mar-2008
I feel deeply insulted by A. Smith's comments. Has she not noticed that Mrs Edwards has TWO children , not ONE. How fair would it be on her small daughter to have to sit about in a school corridor all day whilst Mrs Edwards becomes her son's nurse? When you have a child with a chronic medical condition it takes its toll on the whole family. Are we to deny our other children any time with us at all? Perhaps we parents with children with diabetes should have them attached to us by a leash, then no one else would ever have to CARE for them at all. In my case I would have no hands free, as i have two children with diabetes! Tell me A. Smith, which one shall I run to CARE for if they are both having a life-threatening seizure? I am sure you must know the answer, so please share it with me! I've only been living with this disease for 8 years! What would I know about CARING!

A Smith
Posted By: Marisa Smyth on 04-Mar-2008
I am horrified by A Smith's comment, as I'm sure many others will be. Not only does it show a lack of understanding and empathy, it is also clear he/she hasn't read the excellent article properly. One of Mrs Edwards' problems with the school, as detailed above, is that she has been unable to go into the school to administer Ellis's injection unless she remains on site throughout the six-hour day and administers the crucial lunchtime injection of insulin' when the nurse is absent. How many people does A Smith know who can give that kind of commitment day in day out, indefinitely, especially when they have another small child to care for. As for 'having a nurse with him everywhere he goes', - this is the school's doing. Most schools have staff memebers trained to look after children with this kind of problem and do not require the services of a full time nurse. I have a diabetic child, and I have been on two school boards, chairing one for several years - so I know that this is the case. Yes - I'm sure Ellis is sustaining psychological damage. Children learn their attitude to their illness from adults. Ellis is learning from his school that his diabetes is a huge burden to be borne, and that the adults around him when he is in school, a place he should feel secure, a frightened of his condition. As for finding it 'ludicrous' for staff to attend training, words fail me. I must tell this one to my son's class teacher, his head teacher, and the many other members of staff at his school who attend training and refesher courses every year without fail. If the sole function of school is to provide education, as A Smith suggests, then lets go back to the days of the cane and regimented rows of seats with children learning parrot fashion. Lets have the law of the jungle in the playground because it isn't a teachers job to intervene - just to educate. A last word. I think A Smith will find that Mrs Edwards is putting herself through all of this because she does care. If she didn't she would leave Ellis to his fate at this uncaring school. When A Smith can come forward and state that her children have special needs as dangerous as Ellis's, then I might be inclined to pay credence to her comments. Until then, he/she should be grateful that he/she, and his/her children do not face these horrendous problems.

Ellis
Posted By: Kate Fazakerley on 04-Mar-2008
Did 'A Smith' who posted on February 23rd stop to consider for a moment whether Mrs Edwards, and all the other 20,000 parents of children with diabetes, was in a position to go into school every day to care for her son. What about the necessity of working? What about the possibility of other children requiring her time and care. Ellis doesn't need a nurse to follow him everywhere he goes. All he needs is compassionate adults to take responsibility for him when he is in their care and look after him according to his medical needs which he did not chose to have. No they are not nurses but then neither is Mrs Edwards,

In response to
Posted By: Rebecca Gumble on 04-Mar-2008
I have many objections to the comments made by A Smith. 1) Your children attended the school - what life threatening needs did they have then that Castle Park met? 2) As i have found out it is not all about the injections, what would A Smith have suggested i do for my daughter. Her old school wouldn't even finger prick her. I couldn't be on hand at lunchtimes; before and after PE and if she went low (which could be unpredictable) I couldn't have been in school everyday all day!! 3) All staff should have training if a child has a complex medical need. They need to know signs of what to look out for - even if they are not trained to do anything, Time can save lives. A child with diabetes CANNOT be left in the care of anyone without them having training for signs and symptoms of hypos and hypers. What do you think the school would prefer - knowledge or ignorance that could cost a child's life? 4) Yes, staff are there to provide an education but in the "Managing medicines in schools" guidelines it clearly states that the school should provide support staff to care for children with medical needs. Liabilty is covered by insurance and training. 5) I deeply take offensive to the last paragraph. It could not have been an easy decision for Mrs Edwards to have gone to the papers as it makes things extremely difficult for herself, her child and the school. She did it though because, she cares and wants the best for her child. Why should any child be ignored and overlooked? What really gets me is the right you have to assume that Mrs Edwards does not care. Knowing what it is like to manage a condition like type 1 diabetes; having the haunting fear of if your child is still breathing in the morning (I know of children dying due to diabetes during the night); the strain of a 24hour 7 days a week disease that does not take a holiday; is unpreventable and is nobody's fault; giving daily injections to your child so they can survive; regular finger pricks on their tiniest fingers; feeding your child glucose in the night to keep their levels up and praying it is enough to prevent a seizure and carbohydrate counting everything they eat so it can match to their insulin needs that you decide. These are just some of the daily requirements it takes to keep a type 1 diabetic child healthy and happy. If this is not caring then i do not what is!

Ellis
Posted By: Dawn Hammond on 04-Mar-2008
I am totally baffled at how this school has treated this little boy, it is their lack of care that is affecting him not his parents. My daughter(who has type 1 diabetes) attends a school in a different county and they have readily looked after her needs from the age of 4. This has included blood tests and insulin injections. Infact they took her away on a residential trip for 5 days. If one school can do this why can't all the schools?

A SMITH is an outrage!!!!
Posted By: Adrienne on 04-Mar-2008
Abominable, that is the nicest word I can think of to describe A Smith. Well congratulations on having nice healthy children, how lucky you are. I do hope your children never suddenly get a life threatening condition where you have to leave your child daily somewhere where no-one is trained to look after them. Do you wake up every morning wondering whether your children are still breathing! Do you dread the phone ringing in case it is the school or a hospital telling you the news that as a mum you should never have to hear. No, well woman have a heart. Any parent of a diabetic child whether Mrs Edwards, myself or even the people I know whose children have died due to diabetes, we all have those feelings every day. Leaving my daughter at school is a complete nightmare, it is a huge worry. Our school is an excellent school who have trained members of staff to look after her every single minute of every single day, and this needs doing. Diabetic children DO and CAN collapse without warning. Without a trained person who knows what they are doing, an ambulance that is too late or any other hiccup, then this child could become brain damaged or die. You are a complete disgrace to the mothers who care. I am ashamed of you and I don't even know you and never want to. How dare you criticise someone about something you know nothing of. You may criticize Mrs Edwards when your children become type 1 diabetics and you have to worry. Your tone and disgusting accusations would change rapidly. You too can hang your head in shame along with Castle Park.

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Story First Published: 05/02/2008 08:55:59

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