- Access and read the Asthma Friendly School Guidance
- Identify and appoint one or more staff members to act as Asthma Champions
- Check the Asthma Friendly Schools six standards
- Identify any actions needed to meet all standards
- Put the standards into action with our free support, including training for staff, policies, documents and awareness posters (see below for more details)
- Share the news with your school community when you receive your Asthma Friendly accreditation and certificate
- Display your certificate proudly in school
- Your Asthma Friendly Lead will be in contact to renew your accreditation after 2 years
Schools across south east London can now join the Asthma Friendly Schools programme to get free training, accreditation and support so that children and young people with asthma can be safe, included, and fully take part in school life.
Asthma is the most common long-term condition in children. Many asthma-related absences and emergencies can be prevented with the right awareness, policies, and training in place.
Why become an Asthma Friendly School?
The benefits of becoming an ‘Asthma Friendly School’ include:
- Improving asthma awareness and management in the school
- Improving support to students with asthma encouraging an inclusive environment
- Supporting responsibilities for the health, safety and wellbeing of students and staff
- Ensures the school is implementing current and best practice asthma management strategies
- Enables the school to promote its self-evaluated status to ensure that the community is aware of the school’s commitment to ‘Asthma Friendly’ strategies.
In a recent study of another London borough after schools adopted the Asthma Friendly Schools approach, the number of children absent due to asthma fell from 686 in 2021/22 to 599 in 2023/24.
How to become an Asthma Friendly School
Free support for schools
Through the Asthma Friendly School initiative, all schools in south east London can access:
- Online national asthma training for all staff
- Additional face-to-face training and ongoing support for Asthma Champions
- Draft asthma policies and related documents
- Asthma awareness posters for staff rooms and classrooms
The six standards of an Asthma Friendly School
Becoming an Asthma Friendly School means that schools will have the following in place:
- Register of all children and young people with asthma.
- Personalised Asthma Action Plan for each child with asthma and school-wide emergency asthma plan
- Named individual responsible for asthma in each school.
- Policy for inhaler techniques and care of the children and young people with asthma.
- Policy regarding emergency treatment.
- System for identifying children who are missing school because of their asthma or who are not partaking in sports or other activities due to poor control.
How to apply for Asthma Friendly School status
To apply, schools should email bromh.asthmafriendlySEL@nhs.net to receive the onboarding pack and guidance.
Additional resources
- LearnLivebroadcast for schools “How we can all support young people with asthma to live their best lives”
- Video “Would you know what to do if a child had an asthma attack at school?”
- Video “Asthma attack at school? How should schools respond”
- Podcast “How schools can support the air quality and asthma agenda to help CYP to live their best lives”
- Slides “Benefits of setting up an Asthma Friendly Schools initiative”
Find out more
Additional tools for young people
As well as the Asthma Friendly Schools programme, young people with asthma can also benefit from the Digital Health Passport app.
The Digital Health Passport is a free app developed with young people, school nurses, GPs and asthma specialists. It helps young people aged 13–25 manage long-term conditions, including asthma, by:
- Keeping a digital asthma action plan up to date
- Tracking symptoms and accessing educational resources
- Giving the option to share their care plan with parents, school staff, and healthcare professionals
The app makes it easier for young people to take control of their health and ensure their care is joined up between home, school, and healthcare teams.