Parents and Carers
- SEN Support in Mainstream Schools
- SEN Support in School Meetings
- Choosing a School or College
- Education Health and Care (EHC) Needs Assessments, Plans and Reviews
- Appeals and Mediation
- Attendance and Exclusions
- Transitioning Between Schools or Settings
- Early Years
- SEND Funding
- Transport to School and College
- Preparing For Adulthood (PfA)
- Making a Complaint
- Health Needs and Education
- Elective Home Education (EHE)
- School Admissions
- Disability Discrimination
- Children's Disability Register
Health Needs and Education
The Children and Families Act 2014 places a duty on maintained schools, academies and Pupil Referral Units (PRUs), to make arrangements to support pupils with medical conditions.
Schools and educational settings must follow the advice given within the Statutory Guidance written by the Department of Education ‘Supporting pupils at school with medical conditions’, which explains the support children with medical needs should receive in schools.
Individual healthcare plans will normally specify the type and level of support required to meet the medical needs of your child. Where children and young people also have special education needs, their provision should be planned and delivered in a co-ordinated way with the healthcare plan.
The aim is to ensure that all children with medical conditions, in terms of both physical and mental health, are properly supported in school so that they can play a full and active role in school life, remain healthy and achieve their academic potential.
It is important that parents feel confident that schools will provide effective support for their child’s medical condition and that pupils feel safe. In making decisions about the support they provide, schools should establish relationships with relevant local health services to help them.
It is crucial that schools receive and fully consider advice from healthcare professionals and listen to and value the views of parents and pupils.
Pupils at school with medical conditions should be properly supported, so that they have full access to education, including school trips and physical education.
Schools must ensure that arrangements are in place to support pupils with medical conditions. In doing so, it should make sure that these children can access and enjoy the same opportunities at school, as any other child. School’s should therefore make sure that the focus is on the needs of each individual child and how their medical condition impacts on their school life.
School’s should ensure that its arrangements give parents and pupils confidence in the school’s ability to provide effective support for medical conditions in school. The arrangements should show an understanding of how medical conditions impact on your child’s ability to learn, as well as increase confidence and promote self-care. They should ensure that staff are properly trained to provide the support that pupils need.
Schools should have a policy around supporting children with medical needs, that is regularly reviewed and can be viewed on the school website.
The school policies should include:
- who is responsible for ensuring that sufficient staff are suitably trained
- a commitment that all relevant staff will be made aware of the child’s condition
- cover arrangements in case of staff absence, or staff turnover, to ensure someone is always available
- briefing for supply teachers
- risk assessments for school visits, holidays, and other school activities outside the normal timetable
- monitoring of individual healthcare plans. Governing bodies should ensure that the school’s policy sets out the procedures to be followed, whenever a school is notified that a pupil has a medical condition.
The school’s policy should cover the role of individual healthcare plans, and who is responsible for their development, in supporting pupils at school with medical conditions. Where a healthcare plan is developed for your child, school should ensure that plans are reviewed at least annually, or earlier if evidence is presented that the child’s needs have changed. They should be developed with the child’s best interests in mind and ensure that the school assesses and manages risks to the child’s education, health and social wellbeing, and minimises disruption.
Individual healthcare plans can help to ensure that schools effectively support pupils with medical conditions. They provide clarity about what needs to be done, when and by whom.
They will often be essential, especially if your child’s health needs may fluctuate, or where there is a high risk that emergency intervention will be needed. They are likely to be helpful in the majority of cases, especially where medical conditions are long-term and complex.
Not all children will require a healthcare plan. The school, healthcare professional and parent should agree, based on evidence, when a healthcare plan would be inappropriate or disproportionate.
Plans should be drawn up in partnership between the school, parents, and a relevant healthcare professional, e.g. school nurse, specialist or children’s community nurse, or paediatrician, who can best advise on your child’s health care needs. Pupils should also be involved whenever appropriate.
The responsibility for ensuring it is finalised and implemented rests with the school.
Where the child has a special educational need identified in an EHC plan, the individual healthcare plan should be linked to, or become part of, the EHC plan. Where a child is returning to school following a period of hospital education or alternative provision (including home tuition), schools should work with the local authority and education provider to ensure that the individual healthcare plan identifies the support the child will need to reintegrate effectively.
When deciding what information should be recorded on individual healthcare plans, the school should consider the following:
- the medical condition, its triggers, signs, symptoms and treatments
- the pupil’s resulting needs, including medication (dose, side effects and storage) and other treatments, time, facilities, equipment, testing, access to food and drink (where this is used to manage their condition), dietary requirements and environmental issues, e.g. crowded corridors, travel time between lessons
- specific support for the pupil’s educational, social and emotional needs – for example, how absences will be managed, requirements for extra time to complete exams, use of rest periods or additional support in catching up with lessons, counselling sessions
- the level of support needed (some children will be able to take responsibility for their own health needs) including in emergencies. If a child is self-managing their medication, this should be clearly stated with appropriate arrangements for monitoring
- who will provide this support, their training needs, expectations of their role and confirmation of proficiency to provide support for the child’s medical condition from a healthcare professional; and cover arrangements for when they are unavailable
- who in the school needs to be aware of the child’s condition and the support required
- arrangements for written permission from parents and the headteacher for medication to be administered by a member of staff, or self-administered by the pupil during school hours
- separate arrangements or procedures required for school trips or other school activities outside of the normal school timetable, that will ensure the child can participate, e.g. risk assessments
- where confidentiality issues are raised by the parent/child, the designated individuals to be entrusted with information about the child’s condition
- what to do in an emergency, including whom to contact, and contingency arrangements. Some children may have an emergency healthcare plan prepared by their lead clinician that could be used to inform development of their individual healthcare plan.
Headteachers should make sure that all staff who need to know are aware of the child’s condition.
They should also make sure that a sufficient number of staff are trained and available to implement the policy and deliver against all individual healthcare plans, including in contingency and emergency situations. This may involve recruiting a member of staff for this purpose.
Headteachers have overall responsibility for the development of individual healthcare plans.
They should also make sure that school staff are appropriately insured and are aware that they are insured to support pupils in this way.
They should contact relevant health teams in the case of any child who has a medical condition that may require support at school.
Parents and carers can provide the school with sufficient and up-to-date information about their child’s medical needs. They may in some cases be the first to notify the school that their child has a medical condition.
Parents and carers are key partners and should be involved in the development and review of their child’s individual healthcare plan and may be involved in its drafting. They should carry out any action they have agreed to as part of its implementation, e.g. provide medicines and equipment and ensure they, or another nominated adult, are contactable at all times.
Education providers may ask medical professionals for guidance on how to support children and young people with health needs. Medical professionals may support staff on implementing a child’s individual healthcare plan and provide advice and liaison, for example, on training.
School staff, including the SENCo can liaise with lead clinicians locally on appropriate support for the child and associated staff training needs.
Community nursing teams will also be a valuable potential resource for a school seeking advice and support in relation to children with a medical condition.
Specialist local health teams may be able to provide support in schools for children with particular conditions (e.g. asthma, diabetes, epilepsy).
Local authorities and the Integrated Care Board (ICB) must make joint commissioning arrangements for education, health and care provision for children and young people with SEN or disabilities.
Local authorities and ICBs should provide support, advice and guidance, including suitable training for school staff, to ensure that the support specified within individual healthcare plans can be delivered effectively.
Local authorities should work with schools to support pupils with medical conditions to attend full-time. Where pupils would not receive a suitable education in a mainstream school because of their health needs, the local authority has a duty to make other arrangements. Local authorities should be ready to make arrangements under this duty when it is clear that a child will be away from school for 15 days or more because of health needs.
If your child is too unwell to go to school, you must tell the school on the first day of their absence. You must also notify the school if you know there is going to be a planned absence e.g. medial appointment or operation. The school can look at how to support your child and may follow the graduated approach (SEND support through the assess, plan, do, review cycle).
If the absence is going to be for more than 15 days the school should notify the local authorities. The local authorities have specialist teams to support children who may be absent from school. They will help arrange your child’s education whilst they are off school. This could be delivered by any of the following, or any combination of the following, depending on the needs of your child:
- School providing work to be completed at home
- Accessing education at the hospital if they are in patient
- Home tuition
- Support at a smaller, more accessible education centre
- Virtual learning.
School attendance guidance 2019, from the Department of Education, states that all pupils of compulsory school age are entitled to a full-time education. However, schools are permitted to provide less than a full-time education only in very exceptional circumstances, for example, where a medical condition prevents a pupil from attending full-time education and a part-time timetable is considered as part of a re-integration package. This shouldn't be treated as a long-term plan and this plan must be reviewed on a regular basis with an end date specified of when the child will return to school. In some cases, the school or the local authority may look at the appropriateness of providing an alternative provision.
If a pupil has a serious medical condition, where recovery is the priority outcome, these arrangements would be part of a medical plan, agreed between the school and health.
NHS - Children’s health and wellbeing
NHS - Special Education Needs and/or Disability (SEND)
Home Healthier Together - South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw Initiative
Children out of school (IPSEA)
Government guidance - Promoting and supporting mental health and wellbeing in schools and colleges
NottAlone - Information for young people
Nottinghamshire County Council residents: Integrated children’s disability service (ICDS)
Nottingham City Council Residents: BEH - Single Point of Access
Nottingham City Council Residents: SEND Inclusion Support Services

SEND Local Offer
The Nottingham City Council and Nottinghamshire County Council SEND Local Offers are a great resource for finding events, support and activities in your area.
City Council County Council