Teachers and group leaders

This page will help you to find out more about supporting children in your care and other students following a cancer diagnosis.

Who needs support?

If you are a teacher or a group leader you may be looking for information about cancer. You and your colleagues may be supporting a child or young person who has cancer, or others close to them.

Cancer is something that most of us experience directly, or indirectly over a lifetime. Some children in your class or group may have family members with cancer. You may also want access to information for lesson plans or be looking for support for yourself.

Understanding the impact of cancer

Treatments can look very different from person to person, depending on the child’s or young person’s diagnosis. However, it is not uncommon for treatments to happen at specialist hospitals which may involve long journey times for many families.

When children are on active cancer treatment, some may well have periods of time where they have to stay in hospital, whereas some can receive their treatment as a day patient.

How much their treatment affects their ability to attend their usual educational setting varies. Some children and young people will have long periods of time unable to come into school, whereas others can continue their usual routine fairly normally.

One important factor to be aware of is that the impacts of treatment can last a while after treatment itself finishes. This can be a time when everybody expects the child or young person to resume their usual life, when in fact challenges around fatigue, late effects of treatment, and the emotional aspect of going through cancer can be at their highest.

Younger children

If you’re supporting younger children, working alongside their parents is key. It’s a good idea to find out what language the parents/carers are using when discussing cancer in their family so you can use the same wording. This ensures consistent information is being given across both home and school.

Keep an eye on any behavioural changes at school and let the parents/carers know if there51ɫAPP�s anything of concern.

Older children

Older children may share information about how they are feeling with you that they have not shared with their close family.
They may worry about upsetting their parents and adding to their worries.
Respecting their confidentiality whilst at the same time encouraging them to connect with their parents/carers to let them know how they are feeling can be an important balance to strike

Because cancer affects everybody differently, it’s best to talk with the young person to find out how they are and what support they might need. Creating regular opportunities to check in with them can help.

Practical support might be about making ‘reasonable adjustments’ to enable them to continue to participate in student life. This might look like extending deadlines for homework or coursework, flexibility when it comes to attendance, and extra support.

Students

Students with cancer can feel isolated from their peers. They can often feel as though their life has come to an abrupt halt while their peers’ lives continue as normal. It’s common for cancer to bring about feelings of anxiety and difficulties around their self-esteem.
Other students may have difficulty relating to the young person with cancer, and sometimes become concerned about their own health.
Talking to the group as a whole can be helpful. It may be something the student with cancer wishes to be part of.

Exam procedures

Exam boards provide guidance about special considerations which may apply to the young person with cancer and those close to them.
Teachers will be aware of these. If you are a group leader outside of school encourage the young person in your care to talk to their teachers about how they can help.

Children and young adults respond well to routine, conversations at their own pace and level, honesty and knowing they can ask questions when they are ready.

It's important to recognise the support you need to help look after the child/young adult in your care - look after yourself too.

How Maggie51ɫAPP�s can help

Maggie's offer flexible support tailored to the individual situation. This may be following diagnosis, or during and after treatment. Sometimes it can be in preparation for or after bereavement .

All our support is free and available to the person with cancer and to those close to them. No appointment is needed - you can visit your nearest Maggie's Monday to Friday, 9am - 5pm.

Young people 16 years or over can visit on their own. However, under 16’s need an adult present.

In addition to individual support, we offer family support, regular kids days and events and psychology sessions. We can signpost to other organisations and sources of help locally.

A cancer support specialist will spend time with you to find out how Maggie51ɫAPP�s can help the young person directly as well as how to help you to support them.

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