School During Your Stay
The BC Children's Hospital School Program supports children from kindergarten to grade 12 who are current patients and siblings, when teaching staff are available. The Vancouver School Board administers this program.
Support offered by the program
The School Program provides the following support:
- Supervision of tests and provincial exams
- Contact with teachers and counsellors from the student's home school
- Classroom assignments and instructional support
- Ongoing responsibility for coordinating the student's educational program while in the hospital
Who can attend
- Any child enrolled in an accredited school, kindergarten to grade 12
- Patients staying in the hospital for short or long-term duration
- Patients receiving continued treatment in a BC Children's Hospital clinic or service who are unable to attend school in their community
- Siblings of patients who meet the above criteria and when the teacher-to-student ratio allows
The program may also help siblings attend Ronald McDonald House school support or partner schools in the neighbourhood.
Note: There is no school service on weekends or statutory holidays.
How to access this service
Please speak to your child's health-care team about accessing this service to support their education while they or their sibling are receiving care at the hospital. With their approval, you can bring your child to one of the four school rooms.
Phone number: 604-875-2345, extension 8726.
School materials
We recommend you phone in advance to speak to our in-hospital teacher, and bring work from your child's school teacher to ensure continuity and relevancy of studies.
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 BC, except French immersion texts.
Keeping your child's studies up-to-date
If possible, ask your child's teacher to prepare school work to bring to the hospital, or contact us and we will arrange to have the work prepared for your child. If advance planning is not possible, we can call the school after your child has arrived at the hospital.
We follow the direction of your child's teacher, and adhere to the BC curriculum and core competencies.
Leaving the hospital
When your child is well enough to leave the hospital, some BC school districts will provide home support if your child cannot return to school immediately. Speak to the School Program team if you need more information.