SCHOOL students can be especially vulnerable to winter illnesses and so health chiefs are offering advice to young people, parents and carers in Ludlow and south Shropshire.

A series of lesson plans and teaching materials have been produced aimed at children aged between four and 11 years.

Winter is the time of year when NHS services traditionally come under the greatest pressure, with many people attending A&E unnecessarily when their conditions could be better managed elsewhere.

This new campaign aims to introduce young people to the idea of self-care and give them a better awareness of what services are available to treat certain conditions, creating positive lifelong habits.

The young people will also be encouraged to share the campaign messages with family and friends, in turn raising awareness of NHS services and helping to ease the burden on already stretched resources.

A pack, which is available through an online portal, contains easy-to-follow lesson plans, activity sheets and resources tailored to students from Reception through to Year six.

They have all been written by a trained and experienced teacher, and designed to cover the full range of learning styles.

Dr Jessica Sokolov, clinical director for women’s and children’s services, Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group believes that the materials will help result in healthier families and children.

An online survey, will be used to gather feedback, find out how the pack is used and the effect its messages have had.