When a child in your class is diagnosed with cancer, it can be devastating. School is important for learning new things, socialising with people outside of immediate family and gaining life skills through different experiences. School provides structure and teaches a child boundaries to keep them safe and to help them grow and accomplish goals.

Classroom teachers create a close bond through the year with each of their students, accepting each one of their unique personalities, strengths, and challenges.

You may feel worried for your student as a lot of things in their world are about to change dramatically. You may also be worried about their peers and how they will react. Below, we’ve included some tips and suggestions on how to support the children in your care during this time.

The experience of a diagnosed child

Some of the changes your student may face are:

Samuel’s story

Four-year-old Samuel was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia in February 2023. Sam is in inter-maintenance to support his remission. He is looking forward to going back to kindy.

When your student is diagnosed the family may choose not to tell the school right away.  Sometimes a diagnosis is quick and sudden, and other times it takes months of tests and doctors’ visits to get to the point of diagnosis for the school to be aware that something is going on. You may notice absences from school. Many families may be trying to process the news of a cancer diagnosis and once they feel more settled in the news and know what is going to happen in terms of treatment, they may inform you and the school. It can also be helpful to ask them for the contact details of someone that is helping the family at home so you can receive updates, share positive gifts or messages from classmates, or update parents and carers about how their other children are doing at school without overwhelming them.

After the family have advised you and the school, it might be a good time to have a conversation with the family about who they are comfortable for you to share this information e.g. other teachers, classmates and classmate’s families. Informed school staff and families can accommodate the student and family’s needs; anticipate questions from students, colleagues or families and help to distribute information (if consent has been given). (1)

With consent from the family, it can be helpful to appoint a school liaison to be the key point of contact in the school. This could be a teacher that the student is comfortable with or someone from the school wellbeing team. It is important to ensure the family and student are feeling comfortable with this arrangement and have trust and rapport with this identified point of contact who can provide ongoing support around the changing needs and communication with staff on the family’s behalf. (1)

Keeping up with their education

During treatment your student may become concerned about falling behind in their schoolwork. Keep the lines of communication open and ongoing. Flexibility can provide your student and his/her parents with the reassurance they may need if they are feeling anxious or worried about schoolwork.

Depending on cultural backgrounds or different personalities, some families might place a stronger emphasis on keeping their child up to date with schoolwork whereas some families may focus on the task at hand in the present moment and think about schooling when they feel their child is strong enough. We need to remember every family will have a different approach to transitioning their child back into school.

Most major hospitals offer educational programs and support for students who have a long-term illness. If this is your student, obtaining consent from the family to contact the hospital’s school program may be a way to support the student in this situation.

Supporting their classmates and peers

If other students are aware of their classmate’s cancer diagnosis, they may ask a lot of questions. We’d like to encourage you to be mindful of the impact this could have on other students, especially if the cancer prognosis is not positive.  You can use the resource below to help you talk to child about cancer.

As a teacher, you can play an important part in your student and their family’s cancer experience. You may want to organise with other staff or families about how to best support the student and their family.

Here are a few ways you can support and keep the lines of communication open for your student while they are away from school:

School friendships are important in a child’s life. Keeping the classroom friendship connections strong can play an important role in keeping self-esteem high and your student’s transition back to school easier.

Adry’s story

When Adry was diagnosed with testicular cancer in his last year of high school, he recalls the support he received from his school friends. 

References

1. Cancer Council NSW ‘Talking about cancer in Schools’