Health and Safety

Immunisation

The Department of Health recommends that children entering school be fully immunised. This is particularly important because your child will be coming in contact with many children and infection can spread easily. Children starting school who have not already had booster immunisation should have:

• One booster injection against diphtheria, whooping cough and tetanus (DTP/TRIPLE ANTIGEN)
• One booster dose of polio vaccine by mouth (SABIN)
• One injection of measles / mumps vaccine (if not already immunised or have had measles / mumps)

Please contact the Community Health Centre or your family doctor for details. Dates and times of clinics can be obtained from the local Council. Please keep a written record of your child’s immunisation as it must be presented to the school upon enrolment. Please note: Children who have not been fully immunised may be excluded from the school should an outbreak of an infectious disease occur.

Children and sickness

It is often very difficult to decide if your child is too sick to go to school. We do not have the facilities to look after sick children for any length of time. The school sick bay is located opposite the school office in the administration building. Our policy is to ring the parent or the emergency contact.
If you child is sick before school or has been sick during the night please keep them at home.

It is wise to keep sick children at home because disease spreads very fast in a school environment. This is especially so in the case of infectious diseases. The NSW Department of School Education has strict rules about excluding children from school until they are better.

Here are some common infectious diseases and the expected exclusion periods. Disease Period of exclusion:

Chicken Pox. For 5 days after the first spots appear.

Glandular Fever. It is not necessary to keep the child away from school, but some children are too sick attend school.
Infectious hepatitis Until the child has recovered, no less than one week from (Viral type A) the time jaundice appeared.

Measles. 5 days from the appearance of rash.

Mumps. Until your child has fully recovered and for one week after the appearance of the first swelling.
Rubella Until fully recovered and for at least 6 days after the rash appears.

Whooping Cough. If the child has not received the antibiotic treatment then the child should be kept away from the school for 3 weeks from the onset of the “whoop”. If appropriate antibiotic treatment is given the child only needs to be kept away from school for 5 days from the start of the antibiotic treatment.

Impetigo. Your family doctor should be consulted. If the sores are being treated and are properly covered by a clean dressing, children are allowed to attend school. If they are not covered and are on exposed parts of the body, such as scalp, hands or legs, the child should be kept at home until the sores have healed.

Pediculosis. Until appropriate treatments is begun.
(Head Lice) Head Lice occurs in all schools at all times of the year. Please help to control this by checking your child’s hair regularly.

Ringworm. Until appropriate treatments is begun.

Scabies. Until appropriate treatments is begun.
(“the itch”)

Medication

It is not recommended that medication be administered at the school. If there is medication prescribed by a doctor it may be administered in exceptional circumstances. However, it must be:

• clearly labelled
• only enough for one day in a small container (not the whole bottle please)
• accompanied by a note stating dosage and time
• sent to the Main School Office
• where medication is required to be taken on a regular basis, parents must provide an indemnity letter.

Bike Safety

We do not encourage children under 10 to ride bikes to school. If your child does come to school on a bike please ensure that:

• he/she wears a helmet
• he/she is in control of the bike
• he/she knows and abides by the road rules
• the bike is in safe condition.