What support do children with type 1 diabetes need at school?

Children with T1D need staff who can recognise and respond to hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar), support blood glucose monitoring or check CGM readings, assist with insulin dosing decisions where needed, and manage emergency situations. Continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) alert to trends rather than just readings, but a low or high alert still requires a human response. The level of independence a child can manage safely varies significantly by age and by how long they have had the condition.

What is the current WA school policy on diabetes support?

WA provides individual disability allocation funding for children with type 1 diabetes in primary school, but that funding is structured to end at year two. Schools can apply for an extension based on medical evidence and individual circumstances, assessed case by case. The WA Shadow Education Minister has described the policy as outdated; the WA Education Minister has said the department's policy is due for review.

T1D doesn't stop at year two: the school funding gap WA parents are fighting

There is a detail in a WA mother’s story this week that most parents who don’t have a child with type 1 diabetes will find surprising: at the end of year two, the dedicated school funding for her son’s diabetes management stops — and she has to reapply for an extension every year, with medical evidence, hoping the school can keep supporting him through primary school.

Her son Declan was diagnosed at age five. He is now in primary school. Managing his condition during the school day is not optional.

The ABC story is a WA policy story. But the clinical question underneath it — what does it actually take to manage type 1 diabetes at school? — is worth answering properly, because the funding argument rests on it.

What managing T1D at school actually involves

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition in which the pancreas produces no insulin. Without insulin, glucose from food cannot enter cells and builds up in the blood. Management requires insulin replacement — by multiple injections or an insulin pump — adjusted in response to what the child eats, how active they are, and what their blood glucose is doing hour by hour.

At school, this translates to: blood glucose monitoring or reading a continuous glucose monitor (CGM), interpreting what those numbers mean in the context of lunch timing and afternoon sport, dosing insulin accordingly, recognising the signs of a low (hypoglycaemia) before the child becomes confused or loses consciousness, and acting quickly if a low occurs.

Technology has genuinely shifted this landscape. CGMs replace finger-prick tests with a sensor worn on the arm or abdomen that reads glucose every few minutes and alerts to trends. Insulin pumps deliver basal insulin continuously and allow precise bolus dosing without injections. Perth Children’s Hospital’s diabetes clinical lead Dr Craig Taplin told the ABC that this technology has “reduced the burden of management” — but that many decisions are still needed during a normal school day. He described it as “a 24/7 condition for children, adolescents and their parents and caregivers.”

A seven-year-old cannot manage those decisions independently. Most nine-year-olds cannot either. The developmental capacity to understand glucose trends, anticipate the effect of a different lunch or a longer PE session, and correctly dose insulin without adult oversight typically develops gradually through mid-primary school — and varies substantially from child to child.

The policy gap

The WA individual disability allocation funding for children with type 1 diabetes is structured to end at the conclusion of year two. Schools can apply for extensions, assessed individually using medical evidence.

That case-by-case system works for some families and not others. It requires parents to resubmit evidence annually, hoping for a continuation that is not guaranteed. Declan’s mother Alana Marshall told the ABC that the annual reapplication process adds stress to an already demanding home management load. Her petition, signed by more than 800 people, is asking for the year-two cut-off to be removed and funding to continue to the end of primary school.

WA Shadow Education Minister Liam Staltari, who is facilitating the petition to parliament, described the policy as outdated — arguing that “kids being forced to manage a potentially life-threatening condition on their own” in a busy classroom is not a reasonable ask.

WA Education Minister Sabine Winton’s response acknowledged that extensions can be granted case by case and said the department’s policy is under review. That is not a commitment to change the structure, but it is a signal that the current framework is being looked at.

Both-and: where the debate gets genuinely complex

The case for guaranteed primary-school funding for children with T1D is straightforward: the disease doesn’t resolve at year two, and the developmental capacity to self-manage doesn’t either.

The more complex question is what “support” should mean for a child in year five or six who has had T1D since kindergarten, is wearing a CGM and pump, and has developed meaningful self-management skills. Some older primary-school children with well-established T1D and good technology access can manage much of their day with minimal adult intervention. Some cannot. The clinical picture is genuinely variable.

That variability is the real problem with a binary cut-off. A blanket year-two end date treats all children as equally capable of independence from year three — which misses the range. A system that allows ongoing support where it is clinically justified, without requiring families to re-prove that need every year, seems both fairer and more likely to produce good health outcomes.

The government’s case-by-case extension process is, in principle, a response to that variability. The frustration families describe is that it places the annual burden of proof on them rather than requiring demonstration of independence from the system.

2 cents: what this means if you’re affected

If you have a child with type 1 diabetes in WA primary school and their year-two support is approaching an end: you can apply for an extension through your child’s school, supported by medical documentation from their diabetes team. Perth Children’s Hospital, Fiona Stanley, Princess Margaret, and regional paediatric services can all provide that documentation.

If you’re not in WA, it is worth checking your state’s equivalent policy — support structures for children with chronic health conditions in schools vary by jurisdiction, and the year-two framing is not universal.

For GPs managing children with T1D: schools increasingly expect a management plan that specifies the child’s individual needs. Diabetes Australia’s type 1 resources include school-specific documentation guidance. A school management plan that is current, specific, and signed by the GP and diabetes team makes a meaningful difference to how well a school can provide appropriate support.

The petition is heading to the WA parliament. For families living with T1D in schools across Australia, the conversation it is starting is one worth following.

Verdict: yes — worth knowing about.