Beat Asthma Friendly Schools

These criteria are:

• BAFS Asthma Policy and Procedure in place
• Accredited asthma training for 85% school staff
• An Asthma Register
• Personalised Asthma Action Plan for each Child, including details of medication
• Children to have immediate access to their own inhalers, stored appropriately
• Purchase of an emergency inhaler and spacer and associated procedural guidelines
• System for identifying children who are missing school because of their asthma or who are not participating in sports or other activities due to poor control

The inclusion of Young People in this work is invaluable and forms a component of the accreditation. The BAFS framework seeks evidence to demonstrate the involvement of Young People to enable a full whole school approach to the management of asthma and the improvement of health and other outcomes for CYP with asthma. Examples of this in practice have included the establishment locally in settings for Asthma Ambassadors.

Winning logo designed by a Year 4 pupil from 
Morpeth First Primary School.

As part of the work the ALG (asthma leadership group) have worked with the pilot school settings to develop and agree a Children's Logo to represent Childrens’ Voice in Asthma. We provided some resources and asked the settings to talk to Young People about asthma and how to help support their peers and how asthma might affect someone. We asked them to design a logo to demonstrate what they had talked about and what they had learned. We undertook a logo competition for which we received over 100 submissions from children on roll within the school settings. The Child Health and Wellbeing Network Young Advisors to selected a winner from the entries and this is now our BAFS Accreditation Children’s Voice in Asthma logo.

The Community Asthma Advisors took the Melissa Bus to one of the secondary schools who are currently working on the pilot to enable access to the Melissa Bus educational resource.

67 children accessed the facility over the course of a morning to learn about asthma and its effects, medication and how to support someone who was experiencing an asthma attack, it also gave a valuable opportunity to spread the word about Healthier Together and the information that is available about all sorts of health needs for Young People and families

As part of this development work, the ALG, with partners have developed a set of resources to support primary school settings to become BAFS Accredited. These resources are adaptable for use in secondary and further education settings also all resources will be available in due course.

As part of the toolkit there is a freely available, downloadable implementation pack that contains a host of information and guidance as well as some template resources for adoption/adaptation to meet local requirements.

We are currently in the process of defining the arrangements for sustainable roll out to primary school settings but the expectation would be that schools will be able to freely access the resources to implement policy and processes locally with the opportunity to have evidence validated either remotely or in person at centralised hubs in each of the localities (frequency, location and timetable to be confirmed) to validate completed checklists and supporting evidence to demonstrate achievement of BAFS standards.

We have developed a flow chart to explain the process:

Currently the following dates have been identified for validation hub opportunities, some venues/locations have yet to be confirmed.

11^th December 2023

9^th February 2024 to be hosted at Tanfield School, Tanfield Lea Road, Stanley, County Durham, DH9 8AY

18^th March 2024

29th April 2024

17th June 2404

Please book your slot by contacting stees.chwnbafs@nhs.net

Depending on school settings, the average time to implement the requirements of the accreditation has ranged between 2 and 25 hours depending on what was already in place and how much additional time has been required to develop systems internally.

The ALG working with partners has developed a toolkit for implementation locally in primary school settings. The resources available include:

• Schools Accreditation Framework Implementation Pack (including various resources/templates)
• BAFS 9-Step Implementation Guide
• Recorded guide for local implementation
• Completed Checklist Template: Example
• Access and signposting to required accredited training
• Elearning for Health – training registration guide
• Elearning for Health – training registration – bulk registration upload guidance notes
• Elearning for Health – Training Resource/Refresher Pack
• A series of recorded testimonials (hints and tips) from a selection of the pilot schools
• BAFS Schools Policy for adoption
• Asthma triggers through the seasons
• Template letters for schools/clubs
• School Assembly Format/Resources 
• Secondary School Assembly
• Collated asthma resources
• Resources for young people with asthma (external link)
• More resources for schools, Beat Asthma (external link)
• More downloadable resources for younger children
• Moving on Asthma video, resources for older children/secondary school age (external link)

Feedback from our pilot group indicates that the resources available are very straightforward to implement with minimal support and oversight and in some cases have provided structure and enhancement to already existing procedures.

If following review of the available supporting resources, the schools require further advice and guidance then they can request arm’s length support from the Carol Barwick and Clare Caygill, our Community Asthma Advisors (initially via email at stees.CHWNBAFS@nhs.net) or for further advice about local implementation or for advice about specific challenges that they may be facing then can contact the nominated leads for the schools within the pilot programme. 

Please note that support from Community Asthma Advisors and Pilot School leads will be available as capacity allows and for a time limited basis until more suitable longer-term arrangements are identified.

The resources that have been developed are applicable in both primary, secondary and further education settings and all resources will be made available on the platform in due course. The process for accreditation will be the same as for primary settings.

Please could any secondary schools who would like to take this on, register their interest at stees.CHWNBAFS@nhs.net and once these resources have been developed and are available we will be in touch to notify you that they are available.

The BAFS Accreditation Resources are hosted on NENC Healthier Together Website and are freely available to anyone from any area however we are unable to review/validate evidence portfolios for accreditation for settings situated outside the North East and North Cumbria boundary area. Other ICS areas are welcome to discuss with the Beat Asthma team regarding establishing Beat Asthma Accreditation locally within their ICS.

The BAFS Accreditation validation process has been set up specifically for education settings in the North East and North Cumbria and as such, settings outside of this boundary area are not eligible for BAFS Accreditation via this means.

We would ask that if these resources are utilised or locally adapted outside the NENC region that the work of the NENC Child Health and Wellbeing Asthma Leadership Group is acknowledged. We would also request that areas choosing to adopt or localise the documentation/resources advise the CHWN that this is being done so that we can be aware of the legacy that is being created. For further discussion please contact us at stees.CHWNBAFS@nhs.net

We suggest that schools accreditation period would last for 3 years from the point their evidence has been validated and will require renewal at this point. The expectation is that the setting would continue to implement and develop their processes throughout the three year period and ensure staff training is provided to any new or returning staff as well as the ongoing maintenance of the requirements of the accreditation for the duration.

If you would like to discuss this further please contact Louise Dauncey via the CHWN main inbox at england.northernchildnetwork@nhs.net