As you know only too well, children fall ill from time to time. Children normally like to run about and play, so if your child appears “off colour”, unusually quiet or listless, there is probably something wrong. When a child is obviously unwell, the best place to be is at home.

 

Do not send an unwell child to school; they will be very unhappy and unable to cope with school work. If the illness is infectious, other children and the teacher may also become ill. Children prescribed antibiotics by their doctor should normally remain at home until they have completed the course.

 

Occasionally a doctor’s prescription may make it necessary for medicine to be taken at mid-day even though the doctor regards the child as fit to attend school. In these circumstances, please speak to the school office who can answer your questions and give you a consent form to sign.

 

You must always inform us if your child has any medical condition which may affect them in school, e.g. asthma, epilepsy, diabetes, allergies or sickle cell anaemia. If your child does suffer from asthma, they must have their medication in school at all times and know how and when to use it.

 

Your child will be offered an examination by the school nurse soon after starting school, and you will be informed, in advance, of the date and time, and asked to be present, if you wish. You will appreciate that it is very much in your child’s interests to have this examination as it forms an essential basis for a continuing pattern of effective health care throughout his or her school life. There may be follow-up examinations from time to time. Hearing and vision checks are carried out every one or two years.

 

Leaflets are also available from the school office, explaining how to deal effectively with headlice – a common problem in all schools!

 

WHEN YOUR CHILD IS HURT
When your child suffers a minor injury – a cut or a bruise – we administer simple first aid. In the event of a more serious injury or the onset of any illness that might require medical attention beyond our scope and ability, we contact you to take him or her to your doctor or to the Casualty Department of the hospital.  You or an alternative contact must collect your child as soon as possible when they are hurt or sick.

 

If, however, we suspect that an accident might have caused the fracture of a bone or some internal injury, we treat the case as an emergency and send for an ambulance to take the child to hospital. When this happens we contact parents immediately, giving full details of the accident and ask them to go at once to the hospital to meet their child.