Children and young people (CYP) with asthma are more likely to be absent from school than those with no health conditions. Promoting an asthma friendly environment through training and the adoption of asthma focussed policies and procedures will ensure that CYP are safe while they are in school.

London schools guide

The Asthma Friendly Schools programme sets out clear, effective partnership arrangements between health, education and local authorities for managing children and young people with asthma at primary and secondary schools. This short film describes why schools should become asthma friendly and how the London Schools Guide and this Asthma Toolkit can help.

Becoming an Asthma Friendly School means that schools will have the following in place:

  1. Register of all children and young people with asthma.
  2. Management plan for each child. (note: a school wide emergency asthma plan is a viable alternative to an individual school asthma plan. See these slides from the school nursing team at Newham for more information.)
  3. Named individual responsible for asthma in each school.
  4. Policy for inhaler techniques and care of the children and young people with asthma.
  5. Policy regarding emergency treatment.
  6. System for identifying children who are missing school because of their asthma or who are not partaking in sports or other activities due to poor control.

This guide enables schools to manage children and young people with asthma effectively in the pre-school, early years, primary and secondary school setting. It includes templates and checklists to practically support schools to become asthma friendly.