Why should a Student have a Health Support Plan?
About 15% of school-aged children and young people experience chronic illness.
Examples of chronic illnesses are Asthma, Cancer, Cystic Fibrosis, Diabetes, Epilepsy and Haemophilia.
A chronic illness is any long-lasting health condition that requires regular, but not necessarily constant, monitoring and treatment. It is often ‘invisible’ without any outward signs of physical limitation or disability.
The illness may affect the student’s diet, learning style and capacity to exercise. It will certainly affect their quality of life and capacity to participate in activities. It may even be life threatening.
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In most cases, how the illness is managed on a day-to-day basis will affect the student’s health and general well-being. The most effective way to support the individual needs of a student with a chronic illness is to work in partnership with them and their family or carer to devise a Student Health Support Plan.
To help all parties involved we have developed a step-by-step guide to preparing a Student Health Support Plan. A Student Health Support Plan outlines how the school will support a student’s health care needs, based on health advice received from the student’s medical/health practitioner.We have also created six very short video clips of students giving practical examples of how their schools helped them to overcome their individual challenges. |
A step-by-step guide to preparing a Student Health Support Plan
View students telling their stories of practical school support
Download this complete section as a PDF
| This resource was made possible by a grant from The Jack Brockhoff Foundation
In preparing this section on Student Health Support Plans, the Chronic Illness Alliance would like to thank and acknowledge the important contribution made by each of the following organisations:
We are particularly grateful to Eliza, James, Jemma, Sarah, Tamara and Vassie for giving us the opportunity to learn from their many experiences at school. |
