POLICY 5141.22
CONCUSSION AWARENESS
The Greater Victoria School District recognizes that the health and safety of students are essential preconditions for effective learning and is committed to promoting concussion awareness in schools. All partners in education, including the Ministry of Education, administrators, educators, school staff, students, parents, school volunteers, and community-based organizations, have important roles to play in promoting student health and safety and in fostering and maintaining healthy and safe environments in which students can learn.
A concussion, which can only be diagnosed by a medical professional:
- is a brain injury that causes changes in the way in which the brain functions and that can lead to symptoms that can be physical (e.g., headache, dizziness), cognitive (e.g., difficulty in concentrating or remembering), emotional/behavioural (e.g., depression, irritability), and/or related to sleep (e.g., drowsiness, difficulty in falling asleep),
- may be caused either by a direct blow to the head, face, or neck or by an impact to the body that transmits a force to the head that causes the brain to move rapidly within the skull,
- can occur even if there has been no loss of consciousness (in fact most concussions occur without a loss of consciousness) .
A concussion can have a significant impact on a student – cognitively, physically, emotionally, and socially. It is very important to students’ long-term health and academic success that individuals in schools have information on appropriate strategies to help minimize risk of concussion, steps to follow if they suspect that a student may have a concussion, and effective management procedures to guide practice when a student with a diagnosed concussion returns to school which may include accommodation strategies, and when a student returns to physical activity after a diagnosed concussion.
The Greater Victoria School District will develop and implement concussion management strategies. These strategies may include, but are not limited to: communication strategies, prevention strategies, awareness initiatives, identification of concussion process, diagnosed concussion management resources and strategies.
Greater Victoria School District
Approved: June 15, 2015