A SNAPSHOT OF CLIENT QUERIES

We’ve picked a few of the most interesting questions we’ve dealt with since our last issue, which may be useful if you ever find yourself in a similar situation at your school.

Query: Just trying to answer an Executive Team question on how frequently should academies do a lockdown drill. Historically DfE guidance was always annually. Do you have anything to add to this please? What are you advising schools currently in your H&S audits?

The HSE states that it is recommended that schools don't keep tablets and medicines in the first-aid box. Therefore, if the school accepts non-prescription medication on behalf of a pupil, the school will should only hold and administer that medication for the duration of that specific issue. Some local authority guidelines state that schools should not administer or hold non-prescribed medication for more than 4 to 8 consecutive days without a formal Individual Healthcare Plan (IHC) or a doctor’s note, and once the agreed period ends, the parent is expected to collect the remaining medication immediately.

Some schools have a policy where all medication must be collected by parents at the end of every term or academic year, or it will be disposed of. For chronic conditions requiring long-term standby medication—like antihistamines for severe allergies or ibuprofen for arthritis—the school can hold the treatment for the full school year. This requires both written parental consent and an agreed medical plan.

The 'use by' date of medications must be adhered to and monitored by relevant staff. Any items which have passed their 'use by' date should be correctly disposed of and/or replaced. This is also true of any specific medication held on behalf of a pupil. When the school accepts medication, it must be sure that it will not go beyond the 'use by' date while it is still needed by the student. If it appears that it will expire, the parents must be contacted immediately.

Some medications may be kept if allowed by the local authority and administered only with parental consent. These medications include Paracetamol, Ibuprofen, Antihistamines etc. Recent changes in UK law allow schools to purchase and stock two vital emergency medications - Salbutamol Inhalers and Adrenaline Auto-Injectors (AAIs/EpiPens) - without a specific child's prescription, to be used in life-or-death situations if a pupil's personal device fails.

Query: Please can I get some clarification regarding non-prescribed medicines. How many days are we allowed to hold and administer;

For example Bonjela, Calpol, etc.

Query: Our Primary School, has its own outdoor swimming pool in annual use each summer. We have always used their local County Council guidance for pool use. This year, all teaching staff have attended the swimming instructor training provided by the council and also have first aid training in place. Is this sufficient?

Swim England as the governing body for swimming can make recommendations for school swimming lessons. It is up to individual swimming lesson providers to risk assess their school swimming lesson delivery based upon the risks and hazards of the facility, level of poolside supervision, the knowledge and experience of staff, the age, ability and understanding levels of pupils and any other relevant considerations.

Health and Safety in swimming pools HSG179 provides further information on required risk assessments (refer to point 82). https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/books/hsg179.htm

HSG 179 states “Constant poolside supervision (watching the water) by lifeguards provides the best assurance of pool users’ safety. Where the site-specific risk assessment has shown that constant poolside supervision is not reasonably practicable, robust, alternative measures must be implemented to ensure the safety of pool users.” Best practice is to always have a sufficient level of safe supervision on poolside.

More details relating to safe supervision can be found in the “Safe Supervision” document. To view please click on this link: Safe Supervision of Programmed Swimming Lessons and Training Sessions in Swimming Pools

As Swim England do not deliver safe supervision qualifications, we would recommend reviewing the Royal Lifesaving Society Qualifications. https://www.rlss.org.uk/

Swim England provide free resources to support the delivery of school swimming through our School Swimming and Water Safety Charter. https://schools.swimming.org/

The minimum requirement is an annual rehearsal, but Handsam advises that two drills per year should be undertaken: one to be a lockdown with pupils already in the building and one to be an invacuation, where pupils are fully or in part, outside the building. Records must be kept in the same way as with fire drills (a Handsam template: F16 Emergency Evacuation, Invacuation and Drill Record is available to download from our library) and actions arising should be recorded then evidenced once delivered.