It’s Friday morning and the children were beginning to arrive onto the playground with their parents and families.

Jessica, Danny and Zach were chatting away about what a great weekend they had all had.

 

Zach had been to the beach with his Recycling Group. With help from his parents a year ago, he created a Recycling Group which visits various places and helps keep them tidy. This includes litter picking and making sure any plastic goes into recycling bins.

Zach and his friends are enjoying this group. They feel very happy that they are helping to look after the environment as everyone has responsibility in doing their bit.

 

The Recycling Group has attended a few presentations where they've received certificates for all of their hard work and dedication.

 

Zach explained to Danny and Jessica that on Saturday morning all of the group played beach games which was fun. He is very good at batting and even better at catching so he had an amazing time.

 

 In the afternoon he explained that they had spent a few hours collecting litter off the beach and making sure all the plastic bottles ended up in the recycling bins. Their parents and families got involved too and made sure all the children were wearing gloves and using litter pickers.

 

“That's amazing,” said Jessica who was also remembering to recycle her plastic drinks’ bottles.

 

"I had a football match yesterday," said Danny, pretending to kick a football. "Our goalkeeper didn't come because he was sick so I had to go in goal."

 

"Did you save any goals?" asked Jessica excitedly.

"I saved one," said Danny looking a bit amused.

As the school bell rang the children waved goodbye to their parents and families and made their way into school.

After registration it was time for assembly and today the children were having a visit from two school nurses. The children had taken letters home last week about the school nurses coming to talk about diabetes.

Mrs Patel, their teacher, asked the children to line up quickly and quietly and get ready to go to the hall for assembly.

The children chatted amongst themselves, Dylan said he didn't know anything about diabetes and Katie said she knew a bit as her grandad was a diabetic and has to take tablets.

 

As both classes were comfortably seated in the hall, the Head Teacher, Mrs Hussain welcomed the children to assembly.

 

"Children, meet Miss Hanes and Mrs Jennings, our school nurses who are going to talk to you about diabetes. Please listen carefully and if you have any questions, you can ask Miss Hanes and Mrs Jennings after they have finished," explained Mrs Hussain.

"Thank you Mrs Hussain," said Mrs Jennings as she stood up and came to the front of the hall.

"Today, Miss Hanes and I are going to talk to you all about diabetes and help you understand more about what it is. Some of you may already know what it is or may have heard about it," said Mrs Jennings.

"It's okay if you don't know what it is as this assembly has been organised to help you learn more about diabetes," explained Miss Hanes as she stood next to Mrs Jennings.

 

Miss Hanes had leaflets in her hands and showed them to the children. "If you can't remember everything we're going to talk about in assembly today, it's okay as we have some information for you to take home."

 

Mrs Jennings began by talking about type 1 diabetes which is more common in children and explained that there are usually 4 symptoms to look out for.

"The first symptom is going to the toilet lots of times to have a wee and some children wet their bed on the night too," explained Mrs Jennings.

 

Some children started to giggle when Mrs Jennings said children wet their bed.

 

"We shouldn't laugh," explained Mrs Jennings softly, "as this is beyond children's control and we should try to be understanding of how diabetes affects people."

 

Miss Hanes smiled and explained the second symptom. "Feeling thirsty quite often and drinking lots of drinks and quickly finishing your drink."

 

"Some children feel tired, usually more than normal," explained Mrs Jennings as a third symptom. "You might not want to be as active, such as playing sports because you don't have the energy."

 

"The fourth symptom is losing weight," said Miss Hanes. "You might start to look thin and not your usual self."

There was whispering amongst the children so both the school nurses gave the children a few seconds to talk to their friends.

 

"You have to remember children if you feel any of the four symptoms we have mentioned it may not be diabetes," explained Miss Hanes. "For example if you've been playing a sport and then begin to feel thirsty and tired it may not be diabetes. Your body may be feeling tired because you’re using lots of energy playing which is also making you thirsty."

 

Miss Hanes and Miss Jennings noticed that the looks on children's faces relaxed a bit.

A boy put his hand up and Miss Hanes smiled at him and asked, "what's your name?

 

The boy stood up bravely and said, "my name is Muhammed."

 

“Hello Muhammed, is there anything you would like to ask or share with us? Miss Hanes asked.

 

“Muhammed bravely said, “I’m a diabetic.”

 

"Thank you for sharing this with us Muhammed," said Mrs Jennings.

"Last year I started feeling more thirsty than normal, was getting tired quickly and my mom was worried as she said I was beginning to look thinner than usual. My mom asked me if there was anything worrying me so I told her how I was feeling," explained Muhammed.

 

"What happened next Mo?" asked Tilly impatiently.

 

"My mom took me to see the doctor," replied Muhammed. He knew Tilly might be worried as they play in the same tennis class and had become doubles partners a few times. "I'm okay Tilly."

 

Tilly smiled back at Muhammed but a part of her felt a bit sad for him as he had never told her he was diabetic as she would have liked to have helped him if she could.

"Would you like to tell us more Muhammed? We don't want you to feel uncomfortable so it's okay if you want to sit down," said Miss Hanes who felt proud at how Muhammed was standing up with such confidence. Muhammed regularly sees the school nurses when they come into school to talk with children.

 

"I would like to carry on Miss Hanes because sharing my experience might help my friends and I wouldn't want them to worry like I did," said Muhammed confidently.

"Thanks Muhammed," said the children who then started clapping.

 

Muhammed smiled as the children began clapping as this gave him the encouragement to continue.

 

"When I went for my doctor's appointment I was really scared as I didn't know what I had done wrong to suffer with these symptoms," explained Muhammed. "My mom kept telling me it wasn't my fault and that I had done nothing wrong. She made me realise that our bodies are different and some people need to spend more time understanding what their bodies are going through."

Mrs Jennings smiled proudly at Muhammed and asked, "what did the doctor say?”

 

"The doctor told me he was going to do a quick test to find out why I was feeling so thirsty and tired all the time. It's called a blood glucose test and it was done on my finger,” replied Muhammed.

"Show us your finger!" shouted some of the children.

Muhammed held up his hand and wriggled his finger which the doctor did the blood glucose test on. Some of the children seemed surprised that Muhammed's finger looked normal.

 

"The blood glucose test is very quick," explained Mrs Jennings as she could see the children were getting curious. "Muhammed would have had a finger prick test."

 

"Did it hurt Mo?" asked Tilly, looking concerned for her friend.

 

"No, it felt a bit ticklish and then it was done," replied Muhammed.

 

"The test would have identified high blood sugar from the blood sample taken from Muhammed's finger," explained Miss Hanes.

 

"You're right Miss Hanes," said Muhammed, "the doctor said he was going to send my sample for investigation and that I would need to come back and see him once he had my results."

 

"What happened next?" asked Dylan eagerly?

 

"My mom had a phone call from the doctor's surgery as my results were ready so we went to see the doctor. I don't know why I was worrying so much," said Muhammed, "the doctor told us I was a diabetic and gave my mom a prescription which had information about the medication I needed and then we left."

 

"That's good to know," said Miss Hanes. "Are you feeling better since taking your medication?"

"Oh yes!" said Muhammed enthusiastically, “I don't feel tired so quickly now and it's good that I don't have to keep going to the toilet so often. Keeping active is fun.”

 

Mrs Hussain thanked Mrs Jennings and Miss Hanes for coming into school and telling them important information about type 1 diabetes.

 

After assembly, the children returned to their classrooms. Shortly after it was break time so Tilly went looking for Muhammed and found him playing football with Arjun.

"Mo, I think you are amazing," said Tilly. "I cannot understand how you have carried on coming to tennis lessons while finding out you're diabetic."

 

"It's okay Tilly, thank you for caring but it wasn't too bad. I realised something wasn't right so I got the right help and now I'm feeling great," said Muhammed cheerfully.

 

"I was the same when I had my glasses," said Arjun. "I was struggling to see things at a distance so I told my dad and he took me to the opticians who told me I needed glasses. Since having my glasses I feel great as things are not a blur from a distance."

"Come on Tilly, your shot," called Muhammed as he kicked the football over to Tilly.

 

Much to Tilly's surprise she kicked the football and scored. "Well that's got to be a first!" she exclaimed, whilst doing her little wriggle and running off to the hopscotch where her friends were playing.