St.
Luke's
Children's Hospital School
When children are hospitalized or chronically ill, continuing their school routine brings comfort and familiarity to an unfamiliar and often scary experience.
At St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital School, we nurture the intellectual development of our young patients and support them as they work to keep pace with their classmates. As a result, their anxiety levels decrease while their mental and physical well-being improves. Keeping up with schoolwork also gives children the capability to return to their own class and teachers.
Our school, located on the pediatric floor of St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital, opened in 2004 with a mission to ensure that our young patients are given the same educational opportunities as other children their age.
Hayley Welch, a master’s level teacher with experience in regular and special education, works with more than 100 students each year from kindergarten through 12th grade, from throughout Idaho and southeast Oregon. She and the volunteer staff work to meet the individual needs of our students, establishing high expectations – emotionally, socially, and educationally – to provide a sense of accomplishment when children need it most.
Currently, the state of Idaho does not have a universal, standards-based curriculum for hospitalized or homebound students, so our staff coordinates efforts between each individual district, school, teacher, or home or virtual school program for curriculum needs and credit acquisition for work completed at St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital School.
Services for our children
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Individualized, classroom, and bedside instruction
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Themed events
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Social skills learning groups
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Homebound coordination and school re-entry
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Liaison between hospital and school
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Parent training
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Open Monday through Friday on a modified year round track, with breaks in November, March, and July
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Class times by appointment so medically incompatible children aren’t in the classroom at the same time
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All services available to any inpatient or outpatient school-aged child seen at St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital
Staff
Our staff is led by Hayley Welch, an Idaho state-certified master’s level K-12 special education teacher, who oversees a dedicated group of classroom volunteers.
School Re-Entry
After hospitalization, going back to school can be intimidating for many children, especially if they have been absent a long time, or if their illness or injury has caused them to look different or have different needs than before hospitalization.
When one of our patients is ready to return to school, our hospital school teacher meets with staff at the child’s school to help plan for his or her educational, physical, and emotional needs in the following ways:
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Development of accommodations needed to return to school successfully, including 504 Accommodation Plans and/or Individualized Education Plans (IEPs)
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Working with families on special education processes
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Neuropsychological evaluations/findings/recommendations
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Physical and occupational therapy evaluations
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Speech-Language Evaluations
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Academic reports
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Social/Emotional status of the child
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Medical reports
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Classroom presentations – including the internationally acclaimed Kids on the Block puppet program – that help classmates understand the child’s condition and become less fearful of it, leading to compassion, acceptance, and a sense of normalcy.
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In-services to professionals on the impact a chronic/serious illness or injury has on educational performance
Contact us
Hayley Welch
Hospital School Teacher
190 East Bannock Street
Boise, Idaho 83702
208-381-7981 phone
208-381-5307 fax
