When is my child too poorly to attend nursery?

As we all know, we are now creeping into the season of cough, colds and infections. 🤒🤒 🤒 As parents, none of us want our child to be ill and equally do not want our child to pass on anything to other children in the setting.

As a nursery, we are not equiped to look after unwell children, so how do I know if my child is not well enough to attend Nursery you may ask? 🤧

An unwell child is a child who has a temperature, been diagnosed with an infection or illness, who requires one to one comforting because they feel unwell, is not able to be pacified, falls asleep unexpectedly due to feeling unwell, or won’t eat or drink as a result of an illness. It is not fair on the staff or the child to be at Nursery when they are not feeling themselves.

Having said this, we also understand that children do get common colds and as long as they are happy and well in themselves, they can attend the setting. As parents I think we all know our own children and if they are well enough to attend, so please do be mindful of this and help us limit the spread of infection.

We are not permitted to administer more than one dose of paracetamol in the setting. If children require more than this, they cannot attend their session.

 Exclusion Periods for illness

 Sickness and or diarrhoea – 48 hours after the last episode of sickness or diarrhoea.

Conjunctivitis/ Sticky eyes – once eyes have cleared up and drops/ointment have been administered for more than 48 hours.

Chicken pox – once all spots have scabbed over and child is well in themselves.

Hand foot and mouth, slapcheek and Impetigo – 1 week exclusion and the child must feel well on return.

Temperature – if a child has a temperature over 37.5 they can not attend until this has gone down and is not being controlled by paracetamol or nurofen.

Parents need to be contactable when children are in the setting and be able to reach children within the hour for collection. If you are not going to be on any days, please provide us with an alternative contact in the even your child needs to be collected.

As a setting we work with a daily and weekly cleaning rota. The nursery toys are miltoned daily as are all surfaces and hard areas. We limit the number of soft toys in the setting and any get put on a wash once a day along with all sheets and blankets used for bedding. Staff regularly wash hands and encourage the children to do so also. Staff wear fresh uniforms each day to avoid any cross contamination so wherever possible, do put children in fresh clothes each day. All bottles that stay here are cleaned each day and are ready to be used fresh for the upcoming day. communal areas are cleaned daily and antibacterial wiped and cleaned ready for the next day.

We really appreciate all of your cooperation with this over the upcoming months and look forward to working together to reduce the number of illnesses spread.

Thank you