Schools need to make sure that children with epilepsy have the support they need to be safe and included.
Since 2014, all state schools in England have been legally required to have a policy on supporting children with medical conditions. This means that all children with epilepsy should have an Individual Healthcare Plan (IHP) and school staff should be trained to meet their needs. Schools also need to take into account how a young person’s condition might affect their learning.
We conducted a survey of young people with epilepsy, and their parents and carers, to find out whether they were getting support that met Government standards. The results, published in May 2019, showed that many young people were still receiving inadequate support.
Read more about what families told us:
Epilepsy support in schools report 2019
Young Epilepsy is calling for 4 things as part of our Rules 4 Schools campaign:
1. Schools to ensure that all young people with epilepsy have an Individual Healthcare Plan.
2. Schools to ensure they have a policy on supporting pupils with medical conditions.
3. A requirement on schools to publish medical conditions policies on their websites.
4. School inspections to include a routine check for support for pupils with medical conditions.
Every state school in England, including academies, must have a policy on supporting pupils with medical conditions.
Every child with epilepsy should have an individual healthcare plan (IHP) at school.
Young Epilepsy has templates of other useful documents to support the IHP, including the Assessment of Behaviour and Learning in Epilepsy (ABLE) tool.
Schools should provide training to staff who are supporting children with epilepsy.
Young Epilepsy has free online training for education professionals.
You can This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you have any questions about other types of training.