School staff

Did you know that up to 1 million children in the UK currently have an undetected vision problem?

Poor eyesight can have a significant effect on children’s ability to learn and on their behaviour – yet often goes unrecognised by teachers, parents and by children themselves. We are asking you to help by making sure that all children starting school next term are encouraged to see a local optometrist for a free NHS sight test, whether or not your school has a vision screening programme in place. Sight tests are FREE for children under the age of 16.

Get involved

Getting involved with the children’s campaign is a great way to spread the word about eye health and remind parents of the importance of good vision. There are many ways for you to take part, from displaying the poster in your school, to passing on information to parents at open evenings and arranging a school talk on vision from a local optometrist or optician.

Free resources to help you

To help you, we have created a Teacher Resource Pack (which you can download below) and a range of campaign materials, including:

•   A new campaign poster which you can download and print locally

•   A national register of volunteers (below) who have signed up to give school talks on vision - if you cannot see anyone listed in your area, please get in touch and we will try to match you up with a local optometrist or optician 

•   A parent’s leaflet explaining the importance of children's eye health

•   A parent’s letter about children's vision which you can download below

•   A presentation  with handouts aimed at children - check our register to see if there are any local optometrists or  opticians who can come into your school to talk about vision

•   A presentation with handouts aimed at adults which can be shown at parents' evenings or health awareness events

•   Two short films about children’s eye health which you can show in your school

Need any help?

If you need any help, do get in touch and we will do our best to support you. We are also keen to hear any feedback – so let us know how you get on and anything we can do to develop our campaign next year.

The Association of Optometrists
On behalf of the Optical Confederation’s Children’s Campaign
Email: childrenseyecare@aop.org.uk
Telephone: 020 7549 2063 or 020 7549 2064.