For parents across east London the end of August means getting children ready for the new school term with shoes, pens, uniforms and early starts.

For parents caring for life-limited children and young adults, the start of the new school term has a very different feel to it. Many of those children will be unable to return to or even start education and many of their parents will be unable to enjoy the rest a child’s schooling also affords to them.

That is where Richard House Children’s Hospice in Beckton steps in because, with its help, children who may not have previously been able to go to school are now able to.

One such child is Aysu Guven, from Edmonton. Struck down with blindness and severe epilepsy as a baby, she would normally be unable to attend school, leaving her parents as her full-time carers.

But thanks to the support of Richard House and Waverley Special School, in north London, Aysu is going back to education this school term and her parents are, for the first time since her birth five years ago, getting their independence back.

A similar story is that of brother and sister Josh and Cara Smith, from Bow. Both children suffer from cystic fibrosis and need extensive medical treatment before, during and after school.

Support from Richard House has eased this burden on mum Alison and given her an extra break thanks to its offer of respite care.