Supporting your child with haemophilia at school

If your child has haemophilia, people in close contact with them, such as additional caregivers and school staff, may have some questions and concerns about the best way to offer care and support.¹

On this page, we have compiled some useful and straightforward information about haemophilia to share with your child’s caregivers and school.

Home is the best place to start

Sit down with your child’s caregivers and nearest family members to explain and answer any questions regarding haemophilia. This will give them the confidence to better support your child in all situations.

Here’s a simple way to explain haemophilia:

“Haemophilia affects the way blood clots in the body. People living with haemophilia will bleed longer than someone without haemophilia. Think of a clot like a puzzle made of lots of different pieces. Haemophilia means that your body is missing one of the puzzle pieces that help your blood clot properly”

Preparing staff at the school

Be transparent during registration

Disclosing the severity of your child’s haemophilia is a useful way to start an open and honest dialogue with your child’s school. This will also enable the school staff to be better prepared to support your child in their daily school activities.

Empower teachers

We have created a Teachers’ Guide, which contains information about haemophilia and how to care for someone with haemophilia. You can add your personal contact information and any additional information or protocols that you would like your child’s teacher to have access to. Fill out, print or send, and make an appointment to review with the teacher.

Pass on your knowledge

Speaking with the school staff and your child’s future teachers can help alleviate their concerns about haemophilia and how to care for children with haemophilia in a school setting. You can ask a healthcare professional to accompany you, if you do not feel comfortable or qualified advocating for your child on your own. Remember to emphasize that while haemophilia is a serious condition, with the right care it is also manageable. For someone who is not familiar with the condition this information can be helpful.

Keep sharing

You can help other parents or teachers/support staff to understand more about haemophilia. Share this link with those who would like to know more: www.wfh.org/en/home^*

Feel confident!

These simple steps will hopefully leave you feeling well prepared and capable in supporting your child as they start school.

By taking  precautions to  help ensure that your child is surrounded by well-informed people, you can send your child off to school each morning with more confidence and peace of mind.

Any medical information is for informational purposes only and is not a replacement for advice given by a physician or other medical professionals.

* The World Federation of Hemophilia (WFH) works to ensure that people living with haemophilia have access to care and treatment for their condition. This link is provided for your information only. Sobi has no control over the content of the linked website, therefore such link should not be interpreted as approval by Sobi of the information you may obtain from it. 

References: 1 The Haemophilia Society – Managing school when a child has a bleeding disorder; https://haemophilia.org.uk/support/day-day-living/schools-support/schools-booklet/ for this section