The responsibility for arrangements for education lie with a child or young person’s home school / local authority ( Education of children unable to attend school due to ill health: guidance – gov.scot (www.gov.scot)).
Education authorities have a statutory duty, under section 14 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 to make special arrangements for pupils to receive education elsewhere than at an educational establishment, where they are satisfied that they are unable, or it would be unreasonable to expect them, to attend a suitable educational establishment as a result of their prolonged ill health.
A child or young person absent from school through ill health may receive treatment in a variety of settings such as a paediatric hospital, an adult hospital, a mental health facility, their own home or in a different school. In some cases, this may mean that the child or young person travels to a hospital which is located beyond the local authority area in which they live or in which they are educated. Education may be provided in any and all of these settings and the responsibility for doing so remains with the child or young person’s home authority, even if the services are delivered by specialist outreach services of the local authority in which the hospital is located.
A base for education support is situated in The Royal Hospital for Children and Young People. A small team of teachers employed by the City of Edinburgh Council can teach primary and secondary-age children and young people if their school makes a referral for support.
Learning and teaching can take place in classrooms on the fourth floor, as well as at the bedside or elsewhere within their ward.
The referral process
Hospital staff will identify children and young people who have planned admissions longer than 5 days and will signpost parents to the website containing information about Education of Children Unable to Attend School due to Ill Health. If parents and the child’s school wish to access the service provided by City of Edinburgh Council, their school should complete the appropriate referral form.
Referral Form for Children Attending City of Edinburgh Council Schools
If a child’s education is not provided by City of Edinburgh Council the following charges for the service will apply and the home school/ local authority will fund this.
2024/25 Hospital Teaching Costs – Independent Schools/ Out of Authority
| 1 -1 Hospital Teaching | per hour | £115.78 |
| Small class hospital teaching | per hour | £ 45.41 |
We operate during term time only, following The City of Edinburgh Council school holiday calendar.
Working with parents
We appreciate that this might be a difficult time for you as a parent, carer or family member. City of Edinburgh Council teaching staff based at Little France will introduce themselves to you once the referral is received, before your child begins learning.
When lessons are one-to-one, you are welcome to stay. Equally, you may appreciate the opportunity to have some time to yourself.
Our teaching staff will liaise with you and your child/young person’s school regularly on the progress of their learning.
After they are discharged, their school will receive a report summarising their learning and teaching.
What we ask of your child
It is important for learners to let us know how they are feeling so that we can adapt our lessons and support them to take part where possible.
Working in partnership with schools
We will liaise with schools to ensure continuity and progression of education.
Regular communication and updates are made directly with the child/young person’s class or subject teachers and/or guidance team as required.
Once we have had some time to get to know them and have the information about their learning we need, we put together a personalised teaching plan to organise our lessons. We aim to keep base schools up to date with progress during their absence from school and liaise with relevant staff to support a return to their regular learning routine.
Supporting primary school learning
Your child may work with just the teacher, or with a small group of children in our classroom or at the bedside. Our colourful classroom has a table, reading corner, some comfy beanbags and lots of books and games.
During their time with us, we hope to:
- Help your child carry on with their learning
- Cover some of the same work as their classmates
- Make sure they feel confident about returning to school
- Have fun!
If your child is not feeling well
Every morning, we come round to check in and organise a lesson. We know that circumstances can change over a morning so please don’t worry if they are not feeling well enough for a lesson at the time we agreed. We can reschedule and try another time.
If your child feels unwell during your lesson, we encourage them to let us know – we can cut the lesson short or change our planned activities.
Supporting secondary school learning
Lessons take place either at the bedside or in our classroom. There is a bright, comfortable classroom with windows and lots of natural light. The nurse, doctor or ward team can help decide which place is best – and your child can be involved in that decision too.
We focus on English and Maths because they are core subjects, central to the whole curriculum. We can also support with social subjects such as Geography, History and Modern Studies. If there is another subject your child is particularly interested in, we will do what we can to help.
We will contact school to find out exactly what your child’s teachers are doing. Ideally, lessons will be in line with those their classmates have. That way they won’t miss anything important and will feel more confident when going back to school.
Subject lessons are about the same length as they are at school but can be shorter if they need to be. We understand that there may be times when your child will only feel up to a short lesson. If they are too tired or unwell for their lesson, just let us know. We can always reschedule.
We can provide everything they need for learning. Our classroom is very well-equipped, with big tables, comfortable seats, wi-fi, textbooks, desktop computers, laptops, and a Smartboard. If they are learning on the ward, we will bring whatever they need.
We will also let teachers know how well your child is getting on and send them copies of any important work they have done such as essays and assessments.
If they are likely to be in hospital on the day of an exam, we can arrange for them to sit it here.
