It is that time of year again when the children are suffering from various sickness bugs and cold viruses. The cold virus going around at the moment seems to be quite aggressive, with children suffering from high temperatures and generally feeling very unwell, so if that is the case, you need to decide whether it would be better for your child to stay at home.
Sickness and Diarrhoea and the “48 hour rule”
From time to time children are sick (vomit) either at home or at school. Unfortunately it is not possible to distinguish between the causes, and therefore it is essential that the same rule of exclusion applies in all cases of vomiting or diarrhoea.
Diarrhoea and Vomiting exclusion
Diarrhoea and/or vomiting commonly affects children and staff and can be caused by a number of different germs, including viruses, parasites and bacteria. Infections can be easily spread from person to person (by unwashed hands), especially in children. In general, it is recommended that any staff member or child with diarrhoea and/or vomiting symptoms must stay away or be excluded from the school or early years setting until they have been free of symptoms for 48 hours (the ‘48 hour rule’) and feel well. Personal hygiene whilst ill must be very strict.
If your child is sick at school, we will ask you or your emergency contact to take your child home. They should not return for 48 hours. We appreciate that this is inconvenient in many cases, and you may not believe your child is ill, but you will appreciate that we do this in all cases and it should reduce the risk of infection for all children in school. As an example, if your child is sick at lunchtime on a Tuesday, they should not return to school until after lunch on Thursday, provided there have not been any further episodes of vomiting.
Thank you for your understanding with this. Further guidance on infection control may be found in the Public Health England’s document ‘Guidance on Infection Control in Schools and Other Childcare Settings’:
guidance_on_infection_control_in_schools
