School Services

We provide educational support to children and youth (of kindergarten to grade 12 age) while they or their siblings are staying in the hospital.

About

The program is a Provincial Resource Program run by two experienced teachers from the Vancouver School Board.

Who can attend

Anyone who is of Kindergarten to Grade 12 age can attend. The child must be one of the following:

An inpatient
An outpatient, visiting the hospital for appointments or treatments
A school-aged sibling of a patient
A child of a BC Women’s Hospital patient

Children who cannot attend the schoolroom itself can get educational support in their rooms in the afternoon.

Using this service

Alert you child’s health care team to your concerns about school.
With the approval of your child’s health care team, bring your child to the school room in the morning.
If possible, phone in advance to speak to one of our in-hospital teachers and bring work from your child’s school teacher to ensure continuity and relevancy of studies.

Prepare

Services & materials provided

We provide:

The most current textbooks and basic supplies
Supervision of tests and provincial exams
Contact with the teachers and counsellors from the patient’s home school
Classroom assignments and instructional support
Maintain ongoing responsibility for coordinating the student’s educational program

Keeping your child's studies up-to-date

Ask your child’s teacher to prepare school work to bring to the hospital, or contact us and we'll arrange to have the work prepared for you. If advanced planning is not possible, we can call the school after your child has arrived at the hospital.

We follow the direction of the child's teachers, but we know the curriculum and can offer an appropriate educational program for most students. We focus on the basic subjects as we don't have facilities or equipment for technical electives.

Staying in touch with teachers & peers

We can relay emails or faxes between the school and the patient. Most hospital units have wireless internet so families can connect to their communities and schools.

Bringing student's textbooks

It is always best for the students to have their own materials to work with, but we have most of the common textbooks used in B.C., with the exception of French Immersion texts.

Leaving the hospital

If your child leaves the hospital, but is unable to return to school, we will contact the district or school to help set up home instruction teachers or teachers on call for your child.

Most districts have teachers available to support students who, due to health reasons or accessibility issues, cannot attend school.

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