Illness and Infectious Diseases 

To help keep our community healthy, we ask that parents keep their children home from school if they have cold-like symptoms, an excessive cough, runny nose, fever, vomiting, or diarrhoea. They should return 24 hours after the last symptom has cleared. If a child has been unwell during the school day, they may not participate in after-school activities or sports on the same day of the illness. Suggest this be reviewed and updated with the advice of the clinic

• • If a student is sick, parents are to inform the school by emailing the Secondary School Office and the advisory teacher on the first day of illness before 08.15 am. 

  • If a child has a communicable disease that could impact other children, parents should also email the School Nurse.

  • On returning to school after sickness, if there are follow up precautions, parents should email the classroom teachers and the School Nurse. 

  • If a student is sick for more than 3 days, parents should provide the school with a doctor’s note on the student’s return to school. 

  • If a student visits the Nurse’s Office during the school day, parents will be informed of minor treatment through an automated message. They will be contacted if the illness requires medicine or if the child appears to have contagious symptoms. 

  • If a student is unfit to study due to illness, or injury, or if there is a non-emergency accident, parents will be asked to collect their child from school. 

Fever: Parents are asked not to send their children to school if they have an above-normal temperature (over 37.5 degrees Celsius). Should school staff identify the onset of a raised temperature during the school day, parents will immediately be called to collect their child. This is for the benefit of the child, but also to prevent infection in other children. 

Head Lice: Young children are prone to head lice. If parents notice head lice on their child, they are asked to inform the school immediately to help prevent it from spreading to other children. If cases are found at school, a note will be sent to parents to check their children and take necessary measures at home. 

Illness Outbreaks: Should there be a significant number of cases of a particular illness at school, the school will take special precautions, such as taking the temperature of every child on arrival at school, disinfecting the classrooms or asking infected children to stay at home for a stipulated number of days. Parents are requested to inform the Secondary School Office and School Nurse immediately if their child has been diagnosed with a specific contagious illness. The school will follow guidelines from the Ministry of Health regarding procedures for managing disease outbreaks; in some instances, this could result in the closure of a specific class.

Serious Accidents: Should students have a serious accident at school, the school will provide immediate first aid treatment and then the child will be taken for treatment at the nearest hospital.