Medicines and Illness
If a child becomes ill, or has an accident during the school day, every effort will be made to contact parents so that they can be taken home. If we are unable to make contact, the child will be cared for by our School Health Worker, Mrs Barbour, or by the school office staff who also hold First Aid qualifications.
nb: It is school policy to send children home for treatment if they have live head lice in order to reduce further risk of infection.
Parents can be reassured that the school has considerable experience in supporting children with a wide range of medical needs including diabetes, epilepsy and severe allergies.
Medicines while in school
If children are unwell they should be kept at home. However, we appreciate there are occasions when children are well enough to be in school but need to take medicine. In such instances, parents must provide written and signed authorisation before any medicines can be administered to their children in school. We need detailed instructions informing us of the name of the medicine along with the quantity and frequency of administration for each and every episode of illness. Where long-term medication is being administered such detailed instructions must be provided at the commencement of each term, and renewed with any change of drug or dosage. The medicine container itself must be labelled with the name of the prescribing person (normally the GP), along with the name and address of the pupil, the name of the medicine, dosage and time of administration.
Parents of asthmatic children should know that our Medical Conditions Policy assists such children. You will be asked to provide a reliever inhaler (usually salbutamol) and with a consent form that can be obtained from the school office. We would also ask you to obtain an asthma plan which may be provided by your health care professional. The school holds spare inhalers for use in an emergency if your child’s inhaler is not available or in working order. (The spare inhaler is available for your child if you consent.)
Returning to school
Please note that if a child has diarrhoea or vomiting, they should not return to school until 48 hours from the last bout of illness.