This page will help you to understand your role in supporting children with asthma at school or early years settings.
All healthcare professionals working with school age or pre-school children with asthma or suspected asthma have a role in supporting them to stay well, learn, develop and reach their potential.
It is important for healthcare professionals caring for children to complete an appropriate training module.
The National Bundle of Care for Children and Young People with asthma includes a tiered capability framework to help both health and non-healthcare professionals identify the different level of skills they need to care for a child or young person with asthma.
Please see our training and development page for more information.
Supporting Schools
Every school in the UK, from preschool through to sixth form college, has a legal duty to support children with medical conditions in their setting. This includes asthma. Statutory guidance exists in all four UK nations for schools for you to use and share.
The guidance covers managing asthma in school, record-keeping, emergency procedures, managing off-site activities, identifying unacceptable practices, handling complaints and issues related to liability and indemnity.
You can help schools to understand how they can hold their own emergency reliever by sharing this guidance for schools.
The Health Conditions at School Alliance is made of over 30 organisations with a shared interest in making sure children with health conditions get the care they need in school. The website offers guidance and tools to help schools to provide the right support for children with medical conditions, including asthma.
Are schools in your area asthma fit?
Every child or young person has the right to feel safe. An Asthma Fit school or early years setting will have everything in place to support a child or young person with asthma so that they feel safe, heard and understood.
How you can support children with asthma
Healthcare professionals can support children and young people by taking these actions:
| Action to take | Why this matters |
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Give the child and their parent or carer a personalised action plan, making sure that they understands how it can help them and how to use it. Make sure they have a copy of the action plan for school or the early years provider. Explain their treatment regime, how their inhalers work and how to take them. Make sure they can use the inhaler device and spacer (if used) properly. |
A personalised asthma action plan helps children and their parents or carers recognise symptoms early, manage flare-ups confidently, and ensures that schools or early years providers can respond quickly and appropriately if symptoms worsen. Understanding why inhalers have been prescribed and how they work supports adherence. Checking inhaler technique is correct makes sure that the medication reaches the airways effectively. |
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Support the child to understand their asthma, recognise their symptoms and triggers, and know when and how to ask for help. Reassure them that with the right care, treatments and support most children and young people should be able to do everything they want to do and not miss out. |
When children understand their condition, they will feel more confident managing their asthma and asking for help when they need it. Children with asthma should be able to exercise and play without any restrictions and both parents, carers and children should feel confident in doing so. |
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Prescribe a reliever inhaler and spacer to take to school or early years, to be used when they have asthma symptoms Make sure that the dosage and administration instructions on the prescription label are clear and match the child’s asthma action plan. |
Children need to have access to their own reliever inhaler at school or early years. |
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Tell the parent or carer to give the inhaler to school or early years provider in the original box, with name and dosage information. Show the parent or carer how to check the expiry date on their child’s reliever inhaler. |
Schools and early years settings cannot legally administer reliever inhalers that are not in their original box with the pharmacy label intact, or are expired. |
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Make sure that you note any allergies on the asthma action plan. Help the child to understand how important it is to manage allergies well and how they can do this. |
Allergies can worsen asthma. It's important that schools and early years settings are aware of allergies and how these affect children in their care. |
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Talk about the importance of breathing clean air both inside and outside. Ask about mould or damp in their home. Ask if they or anyone they live with smokes or vapes. |
Air pollution is a trigger for asthma. Schools can join our Clean Air Champions programme, to to action on improving their pollution levels.
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| Make sure that they know you are there to help. |
Children should have a review yearly, after any flare up or out of hours/emergency department attendance. For extra support, signpost the family to the A+LUK Helpline and Parent and Carer Network. |