Accidents and Illness In School

Bumps and scrapes are an unavoidable part of school life, especially in a school with lots of hard playground surfaces. We notify parents/carers if their child has had a bang or injury to the head and if an injury is serious enough to require an accident report to be sent to the Authority.

Here at The John Wesley CEM Primary School ALL staff (Teachers, Teaching Assistants, Midday Meal Supervisors, Extended School Supervisor, Office and Kitchen staff) are Paediatric First Aiders, who receive regular training and are able to provide first aid treatment for routine bumps, scratches and knocks. When an adult administers treatment of any kind to a child, they will complete an entry in our first aid books. We have First Aid kits throughout the school and these are taken out to the playground at playtimes and lunchtimes.

If a child has a minor head injury, we will send a slip home informing them of the bump, the child has a sticker and we will inform a parent on collection. Depending on the extent of the injury, we will use our judgement on whether to phone the parent immediately to discuss if the child needs to be collected or warrants a visit to the doctor or hospital. We will always err on the side of caution.

In the very rare case of serious injury, the school will telephone for an ambulance. If a parent is unable to get to school quickly, a member of school staff will accompany the child to hospital in the ambulance and wait with them until their parent arrives.

When your child starts school, you will be asked to give details of your address, telephone number, place of work etc., together with a friend's or neighbour's contact address and telephone number in case we are unable to reach you. We will ask for you to update these at the beginning of each academic year. If contact details change mid-year, please let us know as soon as you can. Up to date emergency contact details and telephone numbers are essential. We require at least two, preferably three emergency contact numbers.

If your child becomes ill or has an accident during the day, we will always contact you, having taken the necessary steps ourselves to ensure your child is safe and cared for.

If your child is ill then please inform us by telephone that morning. If we do not receive a reason for your child’s absence it may be marked as an unauthorised. If you are unsure if your child is well enough to attend school then please send them to school.

If your child was sick/had diarrhoea in the night:

Sickness and diarrhoea are extremely infectious. The 48 hour rule applies. The advice of the Health Protection Agency is that your child should be kept away from school for 48 hours after the last bout of vomiting or diarrhoea. Please remind your child about the importance of hand washing and show him/her how to do it properly. Please ring the school office, by 9a.m. on the first morning of absence.

Medical Conditions

If your child has been diagnosed with a lifelong condition, then please let us know immediately. Depending on the condition, you may be asked to provide a letter from your GP or consultant to confirm the diagnosis. This may result in you working with the school and other relevant professionals to write a Health Care Plan for your child to ensure that we are able to offer the best possible care and support for them whilst they are in school.

Prescribed medicines:

If your child needs to take prescribed medication during the school day you will need to complete a Medicine Consent Form.  It is important to ensure that medicine brought into school includes the pharmacist’s instructions and is within date.

You can download a Parent Agreement for School to Administer Medicine.

Please tell the class teacher and then give the medicine to the School Office where you will be asked to fill in a form and sign it. The medicine will be stored in the School Office.

Medicines will be given to children at school only under the following criteria:

• The medicine must be clearly labelled with:

1.  The child's name
2. The name of the medicine
3. The dosage required
4. When the dose is to be taken

• The medicine should be collected by the parent at the end of the school day.

We are unable to give aspirin based medicines unless they have been prescribed by your GP.
 
If your child receives regular medication to manage a lifelong condition, please let us know so that we can put in place the necessary arrangements for administering their medication. This will again mean completing a form for the administering of medicines. However if your child is used to taking such medication, we may well only need to store it and supervise their self-administering of the medicine.
 
Asthma 
Please let the FLO and class teacher know if your child has asthma.  We have a storage place for inhalers in each class. Please clearly name any inhalers.  Any child with an asthma pump needs a medical care plan.  This is written by parents and the FLO to ensure all stakeholders know how to support the child.  Inhalers are always taken on trips.
 
Allergies
We have a few children in school who are allergic to a number things including a variety of nuts, and some animals. Please remember that for their safety and wellbeing we are a NUT FREE SCHOOL.
 
What to do about Headlice:
Unfortunately, part of school life is getting to know head lice, so please check your child’s head regularly! We recommend you adopt the preventative ‘bug busting’ technique of regular combing with conditioner using a fine-toothed comb which is available from most chemists.
 

Please click here to download our Headlice Letter which contains information on treating headlice.

Contact

If you are unsure about any of the information above or want to discuss your child’s medical condition or medication then please get in touch with Mrs May or the office staff, who will be more than happy to discuss your concerns.