Family hits out at Boston school over treatment of diabetic daughter
A family has criticised their daughter's school over the way they handled her diabetes. Katie Pickering says teachers have questioned her daughter's condition and not allowed her to check her blood sugar levels.
Katie, of Boston, stated: "She is really struggling at the minute. It's hard because she doesn't like people to know she is diabetic, she doesn't use it as an excuse." She added: "She wants to be as classed as a normal child which in fairness she is, she just wants a normal life like the rest of the kids and we just want the school to give her a bit of empathy and respect."
Her daughter attends the Thomas Middlecott Academy in Boston, and claims the most recent incident occurred on Wednesday, January 8. The 43-year-old explained that her daughter, who has Type 1 Diabetes, had her nails done for Christmas but was asked to remove them.
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Katie says her daughter wasn't allowed to cut the nails down with scissors and ended up in isolation instead. When in isolation lunch is brought to pupils, usually later than normal.
Usually, the teenager leaves ten minutes before lunch so she can check her blood sugar levels, but she can't do this when she is in isolation and sometimes runs out of time to eat. Ben Cook, her stepdad, stated: "She has gone a few times without eating."
The 38-year-old added: "As parents we are putting the trust in that school to look after her." Katie claims that her daughter often gets sent to isolation as teachers think she is being difficult but sometimes it is due to her diabetes.
The mum explained: "When you have a hyper, so when your blood sugar is high, it makes it so you can't concentrate." She says this can cause her daughter to have blurred vision or for her to become angry. Katie added: "Instead of helping her with that they call her out."
The mum continued: "Because of the school she is not eating healthily now. When you are diabetic you need set times to eat."
The family say they have "waited for months" to have a meeting with the headteacher. However, after being contacted by Lincolnshire Live the school arranged a meeting with the family which took place on Monday, January 13.
A spokesperson from Thomas Middlecott Academy said: "Whilst it would be inappropriate to comment in detail on individual incidents, supporting students’ medical needs is always of the utmost importance to us and we are absolutely committed to ensuring all medical needs are met.
“Our staff have received specific training to ensure they are aware of students’ medical requirements and staff are also updated on any new requirements during weekly briefings. We have reached out to the family to discuss this further.
"We encourage parents and students to raise any concerns directly with us so we can resolve these together. We also hold open sessions with the principal which parents can attend twice termly.”
The family say the school were "really accommodating" during the meeting and that adjustments have been put in place. They also said the school apologised for the situation.