Children spend a large part of their day at school and the involvement and help provided by staff at schools and nurseries cannot be underestimated. Even if the young person is able to carry out their own glucose tests and give themselves insulin, school staff need to be able to support them if they have a hypo or need some assistance.
The diabetes team will provide training for staff and be available for general queries but families also need to provide information specific to their child. A comprehensive information booklet designed for education staff can be found here on this page.
Whilst we try to visit every school that asks for training when they need it, sometimes this is not possible and we have to prioritise those schools which have not had training before or where a child has just been diagnosed with diabetes. For those schools where visits have to be delayed, or where staff simply want to refresh their memory on how to manage diabetes, we have provided information videos and practical demonstrations here.
By necessity these guides are quite generic and so individual children should have their specific management needs discussed with their family as well as the diabetes team, and written in to their Health Care Plan.
We can be contacted for information or advice or if staff training is required, either by telephone at 0141 201 0331 or e-mail at childrenwithdiabetes@ggc.scot.nhs.uk.
Calculating insulin doses using Carb Ratios and Insulin Sensitivities:
Whilst we realise that not all school staff are comfortable with working out how much insulin to give at lunchtime, some are. This table is a guide on how to do this. (Updated March 2023)
These were recorded during lockdown in May/June 2020 and are not of professional quality, but they do cover the points that most education staff need when looking after a child with diabetes. Most are only a few minutes long so are ideal for dipping into as needed.
These videos were produced in 2018. With the exception of the video on the FreeStyle Libre, these were created with the help of Cut Mustard TV, to whom we are very grateful for their time, patience and advice. Our colleague Dr Kenneth Robertson (now retired) produced the Libre video.
An introduction to these videos and how the diabetes team van help support school and nursery staff in looking after children, presented by Victoria Wilson.
Victoria explains the difference between Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, and talks about the importance of insulin in Type 1 and what this means for schools.
Lynne Porteous covers what to do if a child has either high or low glucose levels at school.
Here, Fiona Lamb talks about the different ways glucose may be tested - finger-prick blood glucose tests, scanned tests, and continuous glucose monitoring.
Children with diabetes enjoy being active just like other children. Kirsty MacLean explains how to help them do physical activity whilst reducing the risk of hypo.
Diabetes UK have created some very good videos to explain in more detail what diabetes is. Links to a couple of these have been added here.
Information on COVID-19:
Chidren with diabetes are not considered at higher risk than other chidren on catching coronavirus but here is some general guidance. (Updated August 2020)
A growing number of children are using insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitors to manage their diabetes. These videos and booklets provide some helpful guides to using these devices in school. They are all provided by the companies that manufacture the pumps.
Please note that these videos on the Omnipod 5 system use the American units of measurement (mg/dl), which are quite different from those used in the UK (mmol/l).
For example, in the activity feature video, the value of 150 mg/dl (US units) is the same as 8.3 mmol/l (UK units).
Supporting Children and Young People with Diabetes in Education:
This booklet provides all the general information needed by staff on managing diabetes in educational establishments. (Updated August 2019)
