We’ve had a reply to our petition from the Education Minister Robert Goodwill. But I’m afraid it’s not the one we were hoping for. Mr Goodwill says he’s “sorry to read of my concerns about the provision of support in schools for children with long-term medical conditions.” But he doesn’t commit to any of the changes we are asking for that would actually make a difference for kids like my daughter. His reply mentions that there is already a law in place to protect children. But the problem is that too many schools don’t know about the law, or don’t understand what they need to do to keep children with medical conditions safe. When a selection of schools were asked earlier this year, only 1 in 10 could show they had the right policies. Clearly the Minister, and school inspector Ofsted, need to do more to help. The Minister’s reply does end saying “we are committed to ensuring that pupils with long-term medical conditions receive the support they need to flourish. We will continue to communicate this to schools.” That’s all well and good. But how? As part of this petition, we’ve suggested a couple of ways he can do this: • Ask school inspectors to check as part of their regular inspections • Get schools to publish medical conditions policies on their websites • Write to schools with guidance on what they need to do. But he’s not mentioned any of these in his reply. So it looks like there’s a long way to go to get the changes we need. But we’ll keep fighting. Nearly 50,000 of us signed this petition and, if we keep working together, I still believe we’ll get there eventually. I’ve written back to the Minister and will let you know how I get on. And if you need a bit of inspiration to keep believing, the Health Conditions in School Alliance have put together a video of the day we handed in the petition and met MPs in Parliament. Please share it and help spread the word about how important this is. It was great to see so many families affected by so many different conditions – Epilepsy, Type 1 diabetes, Crohn's and Colitis, Migraine, Severe Allergies, Celiac disease, M.E. and others –together calling for same thing. To keep our children Safe in School. Hope you all have a great break over Christmas!