A happy, healthy return to school
Going back to or starting pre-school, school or college should be a happy and fun time, yet it can be challenging for some children and young people – as well as their parents or carers.
With so many people coming together after weeks of being scattered far and wide, it’s also a time when infections like to spread.
Healthcare leaders want as many people as possible to be able to enjoy their return to education and to be healthy, so we have put together some tips and guidance to direct people to information on how to keep yourself and those you care for healthy, as well as what to do when you’re not feeling well.
Dr Alexandra Streeter de Diego is a GP and the Clinical Lead for Frimley Healthier Together, an NHS website developed to give advice and guidance to children, young people, parents and carers to manage their health and to inform them of health services available to them. She said: “Going back to school – or starting at a new one – can be a lot of things, including exciting, hectic and much more. It’s also quite daunting until you hopefully get settled.
“On top of that, the start of the new school year in particular is also a time when a lot of bugs are spread between children, which inevitably affects parents and carers too, and depending on your symptoms it can be difficult to know whether to go to school, whether to stay at home and rest, or whether to seek medical attention. Young people may find their asthma can flare up too so they and those around them need to know what to do and when.
“It’s all a lot to have to take in and deal with, which is why health services are keen to help by bringing many of the most important and relevant pieces of information together.”
Children with asthma can be particularly vulnerable on the return to school, with many respiratory infections circulating and having to manage their condition themselves for most of the day. This is where having a solid asthma action plan and a good working knowledge of their inhalers is critical.
It’s common for children and young people to feel anxious, self-conscious and insecure when going back to school and sometimes these feelings can grow until they impact a person’s mental wellbeing. Support services are available to them.
Vaccines reduce the risks of getting a disease by working with your body’s natural defences to build protection and health and care services provide a programme of vaccination to support school-age children.
Our diets play a significant role in our health throughout our lives but they’re particularly important in childhood, when we’re growing and developing. The eating habits we form as children can be difficult to change as we get older, so encouraging children to eat healthily is strongly recommended.
Infection prevention methods like regular handwashing with soap and water, using and disposing of tissues, and so on, can help prevent or reduce the spread of many of the bugs circulating in schools.
Dr Streeter de Diego said: “School time should be an interesting and challenging time for the right reasons. We hope that by highlighting both the services that are available and what children, their families and carers can do for themselves, we can support our younger generation to be healthy and to get the most from their education.”
Visit the Frimley Healthier Together website for information and advice. You can also download the Healthier Together App to use for acute illness advice before calling your GP or going to A&E.