General illness guidance

From time-to-time, we all fall ill with various minor illness such as colds, flu and diarrhoea. For most people, these are not severe and most will recover quickly. However, for some of our more vulnerable students, the impact of such illnesses can be very serious. As such, it is essential that we all follow the guidance below in order to keep everyone at The Castle School safe.

 

Professor Susan Hopkins (Chief Medical Officer at the UKHSA) has stated the following:

"It’s important to minimise the spread of infection in schools and other education and childcare settings as much as possible. If your child is unwell and has a fever, they should stay home from school or nursery until they feel better and the fever has resolved."

 

I have outlined some very important information below relating to general illness. It is crucial that we all follow this guidance in order to keep everyone as safe as possible, and in order to keep all classes open and operational.

 

How to help keep infection down in school

It is important that we reduce the spread in order to keep vulnerable students protected and staffing levels safe. We do not want to have to close classes, but if staffing levels go below what is safe, due to the spread of viruses and bugs, this is likely to happen.

 

Therefore, to avoid this please follow this advice:

  • If your child has a high temperature, they should stay away from school until the temperature has returned to normal. A high temperature is 38C or above.  
  • If your child is not well enough to be in school, they should remain at home. I understand that this can be difficult for parents. However, the impact of illness spreading through a class can result in that class being closed for longer, which will have a more significant impact on everyone.
  • If your child has been sick or had diarrhoea, they should stay at home for at least 48 hours from when they last had a bout of either sickness or diarrhoea. 

 

By all of us following the above guidance we can help to ensure everyone stays safe and that we can keep all of our classes open. Thank you in anticipation of your support