What steps is the Welsh Government taking to review how schools can further educate families on the sign and symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning?
The new Curriculum for Wales from September 2022 includes a Health and Well-being Area of Learning and Experience which will enhance the focus of schools’ curricula on the health and well-being of learners. This is an innovative part of the new curriculum, and it supports learners to keep safe and healthy, to recognise when they’re not well and how to seek help and support. Physical safety is a mandatory part of the curriculum and statutory guidance includes learning on ‘behaviours, conditions and situations that affect physical health and well-being, and ….. how to respond to and manage these in order to actively reduce the risk of harm to myself’.
This supports schools to incorporate a wide range of issues that may affect their physical health, helping them stay safe and healthy. This therefore gives wider scope and opportunity for schools to explore issues such as the signs and symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning with learners.
In addition, Public Health Wales publishes comprehensive information for the public and professionals on the dangers of CO, the signs and symptoms and steps to take to avoid CO poisoning.
The Programme for Government includes a commitment to “invest in the learning environment of community schools, co-locating key services and securing stronger engagement with parents and carers outside of traditional hours”. We see the work of family engagement officers as a providing an important bridge between the school and the community, helping to provide early intervention and guidance on a range of areas.