Pupils help raise profile (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Pupils help raise profile

5:00pm Monday 5th December 2011 in Education

Oakley Junior School pupils with headteacher David Howe

CHILDREN found out more about diabetes when their school was chosen to help raise awareness of the condition.

Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), a medical research charity, asked Oakley Junior School to take part in World Diabetes Day.

Representatives visited the school in Oakley Lane, where they filmed and interviewed children with diabetes and their parents about how they cope at school, for use on the charity’s website.

The charity, which is supported by Basingstoke-based compa Lilly, is renewing its efforts to help schools support children with type one diabetes in the classroom.

This type of diabetes has increased five-fold in the last 20 years in those aged under five, and the new toolkit and information pack is for all school staff.

Katy Pickering, head of outreach at JDRF, said: “If you do not already have a child in your school living with type one diabetes, you can expect one soon. It is vital that schools are prepared and able to support children with the condition.”

David Howe, headteacher at Oakley Junior School, said: “We have two children with diabetes and the infant school also has two children. Our aim always is to allow these children to carry as normal a life as possible. So when they get to our school, in effect, they are doing most of it themselves, we just monitor it and oversee it, acting as a safety net. They inject themselves but the staff will oversee them.”

Ian Dane, UK senior director at Lilly Diabetes, said the company believed in the power of education. He said: “We are extremely proud to be able to work with JDRF.”