Teacher Hannah found a residential trip away was a great success.
I taught a child in Year 5 with Type 1 diabetes. As she was ten years old and had been diagnosed some time ago she was pretty good at managing it herself.
She would excuse herself from the classroom just before lunch to check her levels and self-administer the correct amount of insulin - she had a packed lunch so took this into account.
Occasionally she would need a glucose tablet that were kept easily to hand in the classroom stock cupboard if she was feeling 'low'. She recognised this herself rather than me needing to look for symptoms. There was a pack in the classroom explaining her condition in some detail.
We went on a two night residential as a class to an educational center. Prior to leaving we had a meeting with the child, parents, head teacher and myself with the diabetic nurse who was familiar with the child. She explained about the insulin needed for daytime and nighttime etc. I also went on a pre-visit to the center and they were able to provide me with the exact menu that the children would be offered over their 3-day stay.
The child's parents then annotated this with the carb counts for the different items. When we went, after meals, the child would list what she had eaten and I was able to work out how much insulin would be needed (she could work it out too) then she administered it in a quiet area. Her nighttime one was adjusted for the visit to keep her slightly on the high side, as it was quite an active trip. I kept all the medicine/spare glucose/sharps box in a backpack that I carried around with me along with other children's medication.
The whole trip went quite smoothly and the parents very kindly gave me some chocolate when we returned as a small thank you.
Hope this helps other teachers and parents to feel confident that trips away are possible!
