We have a number of resources available to support you and your school.
School Toolkit
We have developed a School Toolkit to enable schools and other educational settings to confidently support children with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA). Schools can request a free School Toolkit through this form.
Please note that you do not have to have a child with JIA in your school to request a Toolkit, as it also contains important awareness-raising information about JIA that is relevant to all schools and educational settings.
Supporting children with arthritis in school
Our comprehensive booklet, My JIA, is packed full of information about juvenile idiopathic arthritis. As well as explaining what JIA is and how it can affect children, there's a section about how schools can support children with JIA. You can download a copy of My JIA here.
Download our 'at a glance' factsheet full of tips for supporting children and young people with JIA in school.
We are also happy to provide information about JIA to schools as part of your training plans.
'Let me tell you about JIA' poem
This poem has been written by Kit Weston, a primary teacher, enthusiastic reader and creative writer. This poem has been used to help children in the classroom better understand what life is like for someone with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis. It was shared during the WORD Day Webinar about supporting children in education. It is read here by Sam, a young person with JIA. A downloadable version of the full poem is below.
You can find more of Kit Weston's poetry on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/kit_weston1/
Raising awareness of childhood arthritis
Awareness that children can get arthritis is low. Low awareness can lead to delays in diagnosis. Delays in diagnosis can lead to worse outcomes for children with JIA. We want to change that, and your school can help. Our #ThinkJIA campaign resources highlight the main signs and symptoms of JIA - the things that parents, teachers and friends are usually the first to spot.
We can provide physical copies of the #ThinkJIA leaflets for each child in your school, as well as digital copies that can be included in newsletters or emails. We can provide text and images to include in your communications to families, too, to make the process as easy for you as possible.
Items for children
We have awareness-raising bookmarks, and stickers, that we can provide to schools for fundraising events.
To request any of our resources for schools, including the Powerpoint presentation and awareness-raising resources please request your School Toolkit here.