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Exclusion Periods - Illness


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Hi everyone :o

 

I am just updating our exclusion period poster but have found that i don't agree on some points with the poster we should be using (here)

 

What do you all use?

 

The main points that i am confused about are that there is no exclusion period for the following:

Cold Sores

Hand, Foot and Mouth Diesease

Slapped Cheek

Conjunctivitis

Tonsilitis

 

All of our parents go by this poster and i had quite a heated discussion with a parent today, as i sent her child home with conjunctivitis and said she could not return for 24 hrs from the onset of treatment (this is now in my policy from Sept - i got it from PLA), but it obviously contradicts the poster!

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These posters are guidelines only. We don't put one up. Our exclusion periods for contagious illness are in our welcome pack. These have been decided with consultation from guidelines and staff and parents.This is what policies are for.

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Thanks for your replies, not sure how long ago i downloaded my poster, but looks like you have an updated version, so thanks for that!

 

I bought the new policies book from the PLA, which came out for the EYFS and it states that the child should be excluded for the first 24 hours from taking any medication (i assume due to allergic reaction), so felt i had no choice but to exclude the child with conjunctivitis as they had been prescibed drops, so i now have an unhappy parent who says i'm making the rules up as i go along :o

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We have just adopted a ' Managing children with allergies, or who are sick or infectious' which is one of the new PSLA policies and within this & under the procedure for managing chikldren who are sick etc it says 'After diarrhoea, parents are asked to keep children home for 48 hours or until a formed stool is passed' Previously this was within our H& S policy. But the poster we have at work def says 48 hours. it also says this:

 

The setting has a list of excludable diseases and current exclusion times. The full list is obtainable from www.patient.co.uk and includes common childhood illnesses such as measles. Although I went on there and dont know if I was being stupid ut couln't find it and got fed up with searching.

Edited by lynned55
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so i now have an unhappy parent who says i'm making the rules up as i go along xD

This is a problem isn't it - my poster is the same as yours, LucyP and it clearly outlines an exclusion period "once the child is well". You could argue that a child whose eyes are weepy and sticky because of conjunctivitis isn't well - but as soon as the drops begin to work and the nasty yucky stuff begins to disappear then the child is probably OK to be in pre-school.

 

I think the key thing is that whether we agree with it or not, we should be using the most up to date information as provided by the department of health specifically for schools and childcare settings. This thread has shown that there are several different posters in use at the moment and therefore we may well be operating different policies. I am going to email my early years development worker to see which poster I should be using - don't like the idea that I may be using out of date information especially when parents can be very insistent that their child is well enough to come back to pre-school! :o

 

I'll let you know what I find out!

 

Maz

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That sounds fair enough to me, but - and it's a big but, I will be adhering to our policies which, after all have been agreed by the parents.

If a parent with a child challenged me about conjunctivitis then I would refer them to their GP for guidance on whether it was allergic conjunctivitis or contagious conjunctivitis

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That sounds fair enough to me, but - and it's a big but, I will be adhering to our policies which, after all have been agreed by the parents.

If a parent with a child challenged me about conjunctivitis then I would refer them to their GP for guidance on whether it was allergic conjunctivitis or contagious conjunctivitis

Our parents agree to our policies too - but I would hate for a parent to complain to Ofsted only for me to find that the information our policy is based on is incorrect or out of date! :o

 

Incidentally in the case you describe would you want to see a note from the GP to say which type of conjunctivitis it is, or would you take the parent's word for it? xD

 

Maz

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Well hopefully by the time they'd seen a doctor and got results of eye swab all would be better again! :o

But seriously, with the parents I have at the moment, and have had in the past, it wouldn't be a problem. They are generally very good at keeping the children at home, and sensible about the needs of the other children.

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re the 24/48 hour rule on s&d I have found that schools often state 24 hours where the children are older and more able (apparently!) to manage their own personal hygiene. We certainly stick with 48 hours and insist on the same for staff. We were told on some training specifically on this topic tat this is the period for younger children who are more susceptible to infection. I too am slightly alarmed by the conjunctivitis time and just discovered this today when a parent rang to say their child had it and would not be in.

 

My other concern is the chickenpox exclusion. I had always been under the impression it needed to be until the spots were crusted over but I notice the poster states 5 days from onset of rash. When my children had chickenpox they were still developing blisters at day 6.

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Yes that is the problem. I think if the wording was about the last spot appearing or having crusted it would be better but the HPA poster clearly says 5 days from onset of rash.

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This is the poster we have - and will continue to have - on display

That's the one I currently use Cait. Although I downloaded mine and now can't find where it came from... :o Anyway, I'm confused. Earlier in the thread you uploaded a new poster that you'd received - the one my Borough adviser says is the most up to date. Are you continuing to use the old one then? xD

 

Maz

Edited by HappyMaz
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hi we ve just check up on out illness policy and chilldren /staff who have had sickness/upset tummy bug must not attened back at school/work for 72 hrs. stated on our new poster and via staff attending a first aid course .I,m a lucky one in the 10 yrs work with children never caught a bug or the dreaded nits :o Oh dear why did i say that u watch me catch one now ! lol

Edited by bubblybee3107
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