Medical Needs and Illness
First Aid, Medicine and Medical Plans
We ask you to give us details of any medical condition that your child may have, including allergic reactions. If a child has a particular need, such as the administration of a medicine, we may be able to help. Please ask at the office.
Prescribed medication
We can give prescribed medicine to children during the school day, as per our Administering Medication policy. Please speak to the office if you need us to do so.
The medication must be in-date, in the original packaging/container, with the pharmacist's instruction label attached. We can refrigerate medication if required.
Please bring in the medication to the office at the start of the school day to let us know when to administer it. You can collect the medication at the end of the day if you need to give further doses at home.
Emergency medication such as asthma inhalers and Epi-pens can be kept at school. Please make sure that they are in date and bring in new ones when needed.
If your child requires antibiotics three times a day, please give them a dose at home before school, after school and at bedtime. If they require them four times a day, we can administer them at school.
My child is unwell out of school.
Please report your child's absence on Arbor using the Parent Portal before 9am on each day that your child is absent.
You can also telephone the school on 023 80774814. We have an answering machine so you can leave a message. Please give brief details of their symptoms.
You will receive a text message asking to contact the school office if you do not report a child's absence, at which point we'll call you to ask where your child is for safeguarding reasons.
Please do not send messages on ClassDojo or email the class teachers.
The NHS website has guidance on whether your child should go to school or stay home, based on their symptoms, and how long they should stay at home for when they have a specific illness.
Diarrhoea and/or Vomiting
Please allow 48 hours from the last bout of sickness and/or diarrhoea to allow your child to recover fully, and to avoid passing these illnesses onto other children and staff. This is in line with NHS guidance.
First Aid for illness and injuries at school
If your child has a minor bump or scrape in class or playtime, a member of staff with First Aid training will be on hand to assess them and provide the required care.
If they are unwell or have been involved in an accident, they will be taken to the Office/Medical Room for First Aid.
Nearly all of our staff are trained First-Aiders (some to an advanced level), and can be called upon to give advice and treatment.
If your child is unwell at school, we will telephone you to ask if we can administer paracetamol (Calpol) if we feel it would help. We won't give medication without consent from parents/guardians.
In what scenarios will you ask me to collect my child from school?
A decision to send a child home will be taken by a Paediatric First-Aider (or member of the Senior Leadership Team), who has assessed them and feels they are not well enough to continue at school. If, for example:
- They've vomited or had diarrhoea
- They have a high temperature of 38.1 degrees Celsius or above
- If they've had an accident and require medical attention at A&E or a Minor Injuries Unit (not an ambulance).
These are just examples and the decision will be based on the circumstances, symptoms, and the child's medical history.
We will call the emergency contact on our records in priority order if we need you to take your child home. It is therefore essential that we have up-to-date contact telephone numbers.
Medical Tracker
Medical Tracker is our digital first aid book, medicine log and communication system.
We use Medical Tracker in school to record and notify you at the point of administering first aid or medicine.
No more lost slips of paper or calling the office to check if the medicine was taken - messages go straight to your inbox.
The leadership team can now fully analyse a range of information to ultimately reduce accidents in school.
