Covid19 Prevention for Term 2

As the COVID19 prevention battle continues, we request your partnership in the following prevention measures;

1. Please be vigilant with your child about proper mask wearing. Help them wear masks properly outside of school and model doing so yourself. Please ensure they are wearing their mask before they enter school. Pack 2-3 extra masks each day so if one is dirtied or dropped, they have spares.

2. Please avoid gatherings and unnecessary visits during this period, wash hands frequently at home, and monitor your children and all other household members' health

3. The latest variant of covid19 is highly contagious and we, therefore, request vigilance at home and at school to prevent outbreaks that will be disruptive to both student progress and family routines

4. Please inform your child's class teacher as soon as any close contact or household member tests positive for covid19. Sharing this information early allows us to minimise contagion at school, it is very important that you communicate as soon as your child has been exposed to Covid19. 

5. All of the preventative measures that were in place last year will be maintained as we proceed into Term 2 in 2022. These include daily temperature checks, mask-wearing, frequent handwashing, social distancing awareness, sanitising of hands, surfaces, and materials, and ventilating our rooms. 

6. Please keep sick children at home, this helps them recover faster and prevents the spread of diseases and infections at school. Always bear in mind that when a child is sick, she/he is barely able and ready to engage in the demanding activities of the school day.

Discovery's Health Guidelines - Please Read

• To minimise the potential spread of any illness or contagious health condition, please keep your child at home if they are sick and/or are showing any symptoms of being unwell - a child who is unwell needs to be attended to and monitored closely and the home environment is the best place for monitoring and recovery. A child who is not feeling well is not able to engage effectively in classroom activities.

• Please ensure that your child washes their hands before coming to school and we will be monitoring handwashing on arrival and throughout the day.

• If your child has a temperature above 37.5 degrees (if you observe that your child is running a high temperature and appears to be feverish) s/he should not come to school.

• We will be using non-contact thermometers to do frequent screening for fevers in light of the Covid19 global pandemic.

• Any child or staff member with a temperature over 37.5 degrees will be sent home immediately and should not return to school until his/her temperature has fallen to a safe range and s/he is completely well.

• In the case of a child recurrently vomiting while at home, that child should not attend school until s/he has been cleared to do so by a doctor and the vomiting has completely stopped for a period of 24 hours without medication.

• If a child has been diagnosed as having a bacterial infection and has been on an antibiotic for 24 hours s/he may return to school as long as s/he is well enough to do so. Please note that the school will not administer medication and so the antibiotic would have to be given to the child at home.

• For repeated bouts of diarrhoea (3 or more times in a row), the child should not attend school. S/he may return to school when 24 hours have elapsed since the last episode of diarrhoea without medication.

• In case of eye discharge/all eye conditions that may be contagious, the child may only return to school after his/her eyes are no longer discharging/ suffering from symptoms of being infected.

• In case of coughing and/or nasal discharge please keep your child at home. This is especially important during the Covid19 pandemic as s/he will find wearing a face mask very uncomfortable. The child may return when the discharge is not thick, yellow, or green and does not prevent the wearing of a face mask.

• In case of any unidentified rash, the child may only return to school when the rash has subsided and the physician has determined that the rash is not contagious.

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In summary please adhere to the following highlighted reminders:

• Vomiting - keep at home for 24 hours following final vomit

• Diarrhoea - keep at home for 24 hours following a final bout

• Fever - keep at home for 24 hours after their fever subsides without the aid of fever-reducing medication

• Mucus/runny nose - keep at home for 24 hours after the nose stops running/ mucus clears completely

• Cough - keep at home for 24 hours after the cough clears up completely

• Communicable Illnesses including Covid19, Chicken Pox, Mumps, Measles, and others - keep at home until the illness is diagnosed, has completely cleared and a doctor has confirmed that the child can return to school. Please note that in the case of Covid19 a negative test certificate will be required. In all cases, a doctor’s written recommendation will also be required.

• Skin and Eye Infections, for example, Pink Eye, Scabies, and all others - keep at home until the medication has taken effect and symptoms have subsided. A clearance to return to school will be required from a physician.

Note well that when your child is on medication when s/he is still sick, s/he will not be strong enough to participate fully at school and must be kept at home.

In addition, unless clearly confirmed by the doctor, medication or treatment does not mean that an illness is no longer infectious. The child must not return to school until cleared to do so by a doctor.

If you are not sure whether to keep your child home or if you know that your child should be absent, please contact the Admin office on +250781111002 as soon as possible.

Please note: For certain infectious illnesses such as Covid19, mumps, chickenpox, measles, scabies, and head lice, the school has to carefully monitor all other children and the Discovery team, therefore, for the sake of other children and the staff, please let us know the reasons for your child’s absence as soon as possible.

Thank you for adhering to these Health Guidelines. Please contact us for any further clarification.

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