Anaphylaxis and Asthma Management in schools

• Under Ministerial Order 706 — Anaphylaxis Management in Victorian schools (the Order), schools are required to develop a school-level anaphylaxis management policy.

• The Department has developed Anaphylaxis Guidelines to assist schools to meet their duty of care to students at risk of anaphylaxis as well as other legislative requirements. It is recommended that schools refer to these guidelines and comply with all mandatory directions.

• The principal must ensure that school staff are appropriately trained in anaphylaxis management. Under the Order, all staff must participate in a twice yearly anaphylaxis briefing, with the first to be held at the start of the school year. Relevant school staff must also participate in face-to-face or online anaphylaxis training.

Further detail can be found at https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/anaphylaxis/policy

For our school, 2022 is a year when we need to conduct the training, as per the above guidelines.

This will involve all staff undergoing the online training module and follow up scenario based assessment. Furth details as to how this will be rolled out will be provided early in 2022.

In addition to this individual training, the school is also required to provide 2 briefings per year for all staff on Anaphylaxis management. These briefings run through the details contained in the following PowerPoint document.

Students

Details regarding which students in the school suffer anaphylactic reactions are available on the Staff Room notice board. Please make sure that you check this board regularly and take particular note of any students that you teach (although it is useful to be aware of all students as you may encounter them in the yard).

• Schools have a responsibility to support students diagnosed with asthma by:

  • having a local school level asthma policy

  • having an Asthma Action Plan and Student Health Support Plan for each student diagnosed with asthma

  • providing their staff with the appropriate level of training (see below for details) regarding asthma management

  • providing and maintaining an asthma emergency kit with equipment to manage asthma emergencies.

• Schools should follow advice and warnings from the Department’s Emergency Management Division associated with a potential thunderstorm asthma event.

Annual asthma briefing for all staff

Schools may wish to conduct an annual asthma briefing at the beginning of the school year on:

• the school's asthma management policy

• causes, symptoms and treatment of asthma

• the identities of students diagnosed with asthma and where their medication is located

• how to use a puffer and spacer

• the school's general first aid and emergency response procedures

• the location of, and access to, reliever medication that has been provided by parents or carers or the asthma emergency kits.

All staff are strongly encouraged to visit the above site and to make themselves familiar with our school's local Asthma policy.

Further details regarding the government requirements can be accessed here https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/anaphylaxis/guidance/5-staff-training