Ellen
02-05-2008, 02:00 PM
http://www.burtonmail.co.uk/burtonmail-news/displayarticle.asp?id=253967
Burton Mail (http://www.burtonmail.co.uk/) > News (http://www.burtonmail.co.uk/burtonmail-news/) > DIABETIC BOY, 4, IN SCHOOL BAN
DIABETIC BOY, 4, IN SCHOOL BAN
By ADRIAN JENKINS
EDUCATION chiefs are repeatedly barring a four-year-old Burton boy from school because he is diabetic.
Staffordshire County Council has excluded Ellis Edwards, of Foston Avenue, Horninglow, from Castle Park Infant School, in Tutbury Road, on six separate occasions since September, because the nurse who gives him life-saving injections of insulin has herself been off sick.
His mother, Julie, 38, who was previously forced to give up her 20-year banking career to care for her son, has accused education chiefs of 'discrimination' and insisted they are damaging her son's schooling and harming him psychologically.
Instead of banning him whenever the nurse is off, she wants them to cater for Ellis' needs by allowing staff to inject him or letting her visit the school at lunchtime to do it herself.
Ellis needs four injections of insulin a day to ensure the Type One diabetes he was diagnosed with when he was just 21 months old does not kill him by overloading his body with sugar.
Education chiefs refused to provide them but South Staffordshire Primary Care Trust funded a full-time nurse so the youngster had the help he needed when he started school in September.
Ellis was initially forced to wait outside school until the nurse arrived, a situation which changed in October, when his mother agreed to stay with him until the worker turned up.
However, Mrs Edwards' fears were rekindled when the school decided to bar the child whenever the nurse was off sick - a situation which has occurred on six days in five months.
The school says it will only allow Ellis to stay at school if his mother remains on site throughout the six-hour day and administers the crucial lunchtime injection of insulin.
Mrs Edwards insists she is unable to meet the demand because she is having to juggle the demands of caring for her other child, Natalia, two, with retraining for a job in child care.
The former Lloyds TSB team leader, who is now on benefits, claims the school's stance is particularly unfair because it not only has a member of staff with diabetes, but helps care for another diabetic child and allows her mother to visit at lunchtimes to give her insulin.
In the meantime, she says Ellis is not only missing out on the educational and social benefits of school, but losing his enthusiasm, becoming more 'clingy' and needing more assurance.
Mrs Edwards said: "I feel angry they can do such a thing to a little boy who can't make it stop and has done nothing in his life to deserve such awful treatment.
"With his health problems he's got enough in his life to deal with without this. At the end of the day it's discrimination and is stripping him of his confidence.
"I want them to stop excluding him and treat him like other children. I am not asking for anything extra, I'm asking for what everyone else takes for granted."
A county council spokesman said Ellis' safety and well being were 'of paramount importance' to the school.
She said: "A PCT-funded nurse has been brought in to give Ellis one-to-one care while he is in school. Two other nurses have also been trained to monitor and care for his complex medical needs.
"Unfortunately, there have been occasions in which the trained personnel have not been available for various reasons. Ellis' mother was invited into school so that she could provide emergency cover when the trained team was unavailable but, unfortunately, she was unable to attend. In these instances, for his safety and well being, Ellis' mum was asked to keep him at home."
The spokesman said the school and PCT were working closely together to ensure repeat forced absences were kept to a minimum.
Burton Mail (http://www.burtonmail.co.uk/) > News (http://www.burtonmail.co.uk/burtonmail-news/) > DIABETIC BOY, 4, IN SCHOOL BAN
DIABETIC BOY, 4, IN SCHOOL BAN
By ADRIAN JENKINS
EDUCATION chiefs are repeatedly barring a four-year-old Burton boy from school because he is diabetic.
Staffordshire County Council has excluded Ellis Edwards, of Foston Avenue, Horninglow, from Castle Park Infant School, in Tutbury Road, on six separate occasions since September, because the nurse who gives him life-saving injections of insulin has herself been off sick.
His mother, Julie, 38, who was previously forced to give up her 20-year banking career to care for her son, has accused education chiefs of 'discrimination' and insisted they are damaging her son's schooling and harming him psychologically.
Instead of banning him whenever the nurse is off, she wants them to cater for Ellis' needs by allowing staff to inject him or letting her visit the school at lunchtime to do it herself.
Ellis needs four injections of insulin a day to ensure the Type One diabetes he was diagnosed with when he was just 21 months old does not kill him by overloading his body with sugar.
Education chiefs refused to provide them but South Staffordshire Primary Care Trust funded a full-time nurse so the youngster had the help he needed when he started school in September.
Ellis was initially forced to wait outside school until the nurse arrived, a situation which changed in October, when his mother agreed to stay with him until the worker turned up.
However, Mrs Edwards' fears were rekindled when the school decided to bar the child whenever the nurse was off sick - a situation which has occurred on six days in five months.
The school says it will only allow Ellis to stay at school if his mother remains on site throughout the six-hour day and administers the crucial lunchtime injection of insulin.
Mrs Edwards insists she is unable to meet the demand because she is having to juggle the demands of caring for her other child, Natalia, two, with retraining for a job in child care.
The former Lloyds TSB team leader, who is now on benefits, claims the school's stance is particularly unfair because it not only has a member of staff with diabetes, but helps care for another diabetic child and allows her mother to visit at lunchtimes to give her insulin.
In the meantime, she says Ellis is not only missing out on the educational and social benefits of school, but losing his enthusiasm, becoming more 'clingy' and needing more assurance.
Mrs Edwards said: "I feel angry they can do such a thing to a little boy who can't make it stop and has done nothing in his life to deserve such awful treatment.
"With his health problems he's got enough in his life to deal with without this. At the end of the day it's discrimination and is stripping him of his confidence.
"I want them to stop excluding him and treat him like other children. I am not asking for anything extra, I'm asking for what everyone else takes for granted."
A county council spokesman said Ellis' safety and well being were 'of paramount importance' to the school.
She said: "A PCT-funded nurse has been brought in to give Ellis one-to-one care while he is in school. Two other nurses have also been trained to monitor and care for his complex medical needs.
"Unfortunately, there have been occasions in which the trained personnel have not been available for various reasons. Ellis' mother was invited into school so that she could provide emergency cover when the trained team was unavailable but, unfortunately, she was unable to attend. In these instances, for his safety and well being, Ellis' mum was asked to keep him at home."
The spokesman said the school and PCT were working closely together to ensure repeat forced absences were kept to a minimum.