The guidelines have been created in order to alleviate parental concerns around the safety of school sport and to ensure a consistent and suitable management protocol is available to those working with children in the education sector.
The Forum, made up of a collection of major national governing bodies, representative bodies and medical experts, and supported by the Department for Education, the Department of Health and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, was set up to raise awareness of concussion in sport and to support professionals, student, parents and volunteers to be better able to deal with incidents of concussion.
Members include the Rugby Football Union, the Football Association, England and Wales Cricket Board, England Hockey, Rugby League, Association of Physical Education, Youth Sports Trust and Sport England.
Emma Boggis Chief Executive of the Sport and Recreation Alliance and Chair of the Forum said: “Concussion must be taken extremely seriously to safeguard the long-term health and welfare of children, young people and adults. The guidelines are based on a shared desire to help people identify and appropriately respond to incidents of concussion and we hope they will be welcomed and importantly acted upon.”
A Government spokesperson said: “Nothing is more important than keeping our children safe – and we trust teachers and coaches to provide a safe environment for their pupils on the sports field. We welcome these concussion guidelines for education settings which will be a valuable resource for schools and sports clubs.”
Mike England Community Rugby Medical Director, Rugby Football Union
“This has been a ground breaking initiative, with sport, education and health coming together to address a very important issue. We hope teachers will find these guidelines useful, as it is imperative that those working in the education sector know how to recognise concussion and take action. If I had pick out one key message it would be if in doubt sit them out.”
For more information and resources on the Guidelines, click here.
To download the Concussion Guideliness click here.
