DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION – NEW REQUIREMENTS FOR SCHOOLS FROM SEPTEMBER 2026:
From September 2026 schools in England must provide allergy awareness training for all staff for the first time, under new statutory guidance announced by the Department for Education.
To precis: lifesaving allergy pens MUST be stocked by schools, provision for all staff training in allergy awareness MUST be given, and every school MUST have a comprehensive policy for supporting children with medical conditions, including Individual Healthcare Plans which record specific arrangements for individuals, for instance an allergy management plan.
CLEAPSS resources will help you manage allergies across your science and D&T departments. Links cannot be provided here, but if your school has CLEAPSS membership, search for the reference number or name of the document and you will be able to download it. A list of those documents can be found on the CLEAPSS and CoSHH page and also here.
A reminder to all settings of the guidance from the Department of Health and Social Care, and the DfE, regarding spare EpiPens (AIIs) in schools and who they can, or cannot be administered to. This guidance also contains excellent information on allergies / allergens and catering within schools. Under section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014, schools have a legal duty to plan for supporting pupils with medical conditions, including allergies. Governing bodies must have regard to the accompanying statutory guidance when carrying out their Section 100 duty.
July 2024 – Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health – shared new resources on whooping cough. This information highlights the importance of engaging with the pertussis vaccination programme and assists parents and carers on identifying symptoms.
Beat, the UK’s Eating Disorder Charity, has a platform called “School Professionals Online Training” (SPOT). SPOT is fully funded for primary, secondary and sixth form schools across the United Kingdom, giving its users access to a plethora of resources for free. More details in this PDF with links to the eLearning sign up. Please do sign up – it’s a crucial resource for education professionals.
13 DECEMBER 2022: UPDATE OF INFORMATION: LETTERS TO SCHOOLS AND PARENTS REGARDING SCARLET FEVER AND ASSOCIATED INFECTIONS: Letter to parents 9 December 2012; Letter to Parents 12 December 2022 – Signposting to ‘Use the right services for your needs this winter”; Letter to Headteachers / Schools FAQs – Group A Strep and Scarlet Fever
General information on this page:
Here you will find a number of links to a set of documents which are statutory guidance from the Department for Education. The main document you should refer to is called Supporting pupils at school with medical conditions (gov.uk). The guidance includes templates to for liaising with parents and keeping records in relation to supporting pupils with medical conditions.
To support the government guidance documents there is a Suffolk Supporting children with medical conditions document.
These guidance documents are for:
- Governing Bodies of maintained schools (and therefore for the direction of all staff in maintained schools).
- Proprietors of academies.
- Management committees of PRUs.
- Employees supporting children with medical conditions.
Information can also be sought from your school nurse, or from relevant professionals involved in the child’s care (such as Occupational Therapists, etc).
Other resources
- YoungEpilepsy.Org.UK have lots of guidance documents on their site and specifically one for schools to ensure the young person’s safety.
- Public Health leaflet ‘Streptococcal infections – scarlet fever, impetigo, etc’. Includes symptoms, method if contagion, infection prevention, and treatment. Also includes important information on the complications of serious infection from scarlet fever, if children have had a recent bout of chickenpox.
- Using emergency adrenaline auto-injectors in schools – Department of Health and Social Care guidance.
- www.sparepensinschools.uk – a one stop resource for anyone who wants to know about anaphylaxis and adrenaline auto-injctor pens in schools.
- FAQ for schools – from the Anaphylaxis Campaign.
- Anaphylaxis guidance for early-years settings – from the Anaphylaxis Campaign.
- The Allergy School – free practical resources to help teachers create safe environments for children with allergies. Includes lesson plans, assembly packs, checklists and films.
- Asthma Guidance for Schools
- UPDATED – Health Protection in Schools and other childcare facilities – Public Health England practical guidance for managing cases of infectious diseases in schools and other childcare settings.
- Keeping children safe in education – Department of Education Statutory Guidance.
- Mental Health and Behaviour in Schools – Department of Education guidance.
- Managing infectious diseases posters for schools – Public Health England.
- PHNI poster – Infection Control Action for Schools.
- Find your local health protection team in England – Get support from your local health protection team (HPT) to prevent and reduce the effect of diseases and chemical and radiation hazards.
- Emergency asthma inhalers for use in schools – Department of Health and Social Care guidance.
- TIME – guidance on managing asthma attacks in schools.
- Resources document.
16 March 2020: Emerade 150mcg auto injector: Patient Recall
There is guidance about the recall on gov.uk and the official recall from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. There is useful guidance for schools in both documents.
The recall also applies to any Emerade 150mcg devices held within schools and therefore these devices will need to be returned to pharmacies and replaced with alternatives. Also to highlight that Emerade 150 microgram pens in schools should only be returned to the pharmacy once they have a replacement device. Further advice is available within the alert.