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Asthma UK campaigns for more staff training

by Bea Yeatman-Biggs

The equivalent of a classroom full of children die every year from asthma attacks in the UK. The revelation comes as Asthma

UK launches its Alert to Asthma campaign to raise funds for more resources and teacher training, and to get more schools and local authorities organising asthma train- ing for staff. Asthma affects more than a mil-

lion children in the UK, yet research by the charity suggests that more than three quarters of teachers would not know what to do if a child under their care suffered an attack. The campaign was sparked after

the case of Samuel Linton, who suffered a fatal asthma attack at his school in Stockport in 2007. The charity says the case highlighted a “disturbing lack of awareness” about the condition. The campaign also calls for the

government to make it compulsory for schools to establish a medical conditions policy and parents are being encouraged to back the char- ity online. Neil Churchill, Asthma UK

Asthma UK’s advice for teachers

• Know which pupils in your class have asthma and if their asthma has been getting worse.

• Make sure you know where a pupil’s reliever inhaler (usually blue) is kept and you are aware of the symptoms of an asthma attack – a tight feeling in the chest, breathing hard and fast, coughing or wheezing, being quieter than usual/unable to speak.

• If you believe a child is having an asthma attack they need to use their reliever inhaler immediately – preferably through a spacer. If there is no immediate improvement they need to continue to take one puff of their reliever inhaler every minute for five minutes or until symptoms improve. If no improvement in five minutes, call for an ambulance. The child should keep using their reliever inhaler every minute until help arrives.

• Never leave a pupil having an asthma attack. • Reliever medicine is very safe. During an asthma attack do not worry about a pupil overdosing.

• A member of staff should always accompany a pupil taken to hospital by ambulance and stay with them until a parent arrives. • Generally staff should not take pupils to hospital in their own car.

chief executive, said: “It’s vitally important that every school takes asthma seriously and has in place policies and regular training to sup- port children with asthma to prevent avoidable deaths.” Funds raised by the campaign will

Teenagers in the dark on diseases

Young people are ill-informed about the dangers of catching mea- sles, mumps and rubella (MMR), according to a survey by the Department of Health. The statistics from June 2009,

published last month (March), reveal that more than a third of 16 to 18-year-olds are unaware that they could be at risk of contracting the viruses. Only 13 per cent of 16 to 19-year-olds know that mumps can cause deafness, with just one in 10 conscious that it can lead to swelling of the brain. Between January and November

2009, 2,224 cases of mumps were reported among 15 to 19-year-olds in England and Wales. However the survey claimed that nearly a quarter of older teenagers in the UK are ignorant as to whether they have received the MMR injection at all. Professor David Salisbury,

director of immunisation at the Department of Health, claims that a significant number may have missed the vaccination: “Many young peo- ple feel that they are not in danger of catching measles, mumps and

rubella, yet because older teenagers will be among those who were not routinely offered the MMR vacci- nation in childhood, we are seeing a high number of cases, particularly of mumps, within this age group. It is a concern that so many are unsure about whether they’ve been vacci- nated and I would encourage them to seek advice from their practice nurse or GP.” The survey of 1,001 16 to 18-

year-olds also found that many miss the jab intentionally, with a quarter revealing their fear of needles and 10 per cent confessing a dislike of visiting the doctor. In fact, 56 per cent of teenag-

ers admitted that their predominant health concern is sexually transmit- ted infections. Prof Salisbury continued: “It is

never too late to have the MMR vaccine and protect yourself.” Mumps more commonly causes

fever, headache and swollen glands. In serious cases, it brings on perma- nent deafness or viral meningitis. For more information, visit www.immunisation.nhs.uk/mmr

enable it to support schools across the UK. Currently the charity’s train- ing runs only in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and is being piloted in North West England. Asthma UK’s resources include

Medical Conditions at School, a

policy resource pack available to teachers and school nurses to support children of all ages with asthma. Mr Churchill continued: “With a

child hospitalised every 19 minutes in the UK, we urge schools to take

action now and the public to get behind our campaign by making a donation.” The resource pack can be

downloaded from www.medical conditionsatschool.org.uk. To make a donation, go to www.asthma.org.uk

Parting is such Tweet sorrow

From drama workshops to cartoon animations, teachers are keen to bring Shakespeare alive for today’s school children. But now the Royal Shakespeare

Company (RSC) and production company Mudlark have hit on a new idea. A cast of six RSC actors

is presenting Romeo and Juliet

to the digital generation via the micro-blogging site Twitter. The drama of the two star-

crossed lovers is being played out on Twitter over five weeks, with the actors relaying the famous romance in posts of 140 charac- ters or less. The setting of the play,

renamed Such Tweet Sorrow, has

been switched to modern Britain. The action takes place live, and in real time. Juliet, played by RSC actress

Charlotte Wakefield, is described as “a fun-loving, gentle and polite” year 11 student who obeys her father and has never had a boyfriend. Early tweets included lines like “i feel sooo trapped in this house!!! i feel caged in! I am so thankful for my Netbook”; and “what a crazily emotional

Tweet talk: James Barrett and Charlotte Wakefield

day. Feeling down at the moment. Anyone want to cheer me up?” Meanwhile Romeo, played by

James Barrett, is “an avid PS3-play- ing, drum ‘n’ bass lover”. The actors improvise their char-

acters’ dialogue, but to ensure that key plot developments happen at the right time, they follow a script-

ed framework devised by writers Bethan Marlow and Tim Wright. Michael Boyd, the RSC’s artis-

tic director, said he looks forward to “seeing how people engage with this new way of playing” and the early reaction from teachers has been favourable. One teacher tweeted: “Have

used Facebook in lessons before but would love to try Twitter too.” Another said: “I absolutely

love it. I am an English teacher and will try to get my students to follow.” A co-production by the RSC

and Mudlark, which produces entertainment on mobile phones, TV and the internet, Such Tweet Sorrow is funded by 4iP, Channel 4’s digital investment fund, Screen West Midlands and the Arts Council. It began on April 12 and continues online until May. To find out more, go to www.

suchtweetsorrow.com. You can follow the action on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Such_Tweet. You can also get the latest

SecEd news and features on Twitter. Visit www.twitter.com/ SecEd_Education

Cirque du Soleil inspires budding engineers

St Jude’s Church, Dulwich Road Herne Hill, London SE24 0PB www.markallengroup.com

The Royal Albert Hall has joined forces with Rolls-Royce, City of Westminster and Cirque du Soleil to inspire the UK’s future engineers. Since January, 500 school chil-

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dren have been taking part in “Icarus II”, an educational programme that challenged them to create 3D set models for a production of Cirque du Soleil’s Varekai. Students from Westminster

Academy and Friern Barnet School in London also had the chance to visit the Royal Albert Hall to see the production itself, before visiting Imperial College to receive an engineering toolkit and

2

a day’s training with Rolls-Royce engineers. Alastair Tallon, head of learning

and participation at the Royal Albert Hall, said: “By putting maths, team- working, design and engineering skills into the context of a stage pro- duction, this project engages pupils and we hope will inspire some of the engineers of tomorrow.” The pupils built a range of mod-

els, including “wobbly trees” that would allow artists to swing from treetops. The project culminated in a

presentation of all the models to engineers from Rolls-Royce, and

representatives from Cirque du Soleil, the City of Westminster, and the Royal Albert Hall. The engineers praised pupils on

the progress they had made over the short period of time. Gemma Young, capability acquisition engineer for turbines at Rolls-Royce, said: “We’ve all been inspired by this project. When I asked one school how they came up with their ideas they said it was in their dreams. Putting complicated subject matter into a fantastic setting is a great way to keep young people involved.” For more information, visit www.royalalberthall.com/explore

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