To think this child should have been kept off school (nits)?!!!

OP, kindly, from a 61yo mum, go to the chemist this weekend. Buy...

Several nit combs
The largest bottle of cheap conditioner you can find
Some Hedrin or Full Marks
Some threadworm treatment

Keep these basics in your medicine cupboard. Read up on the symptoms and life cycle of threadworms and lice so you understand what is needed for each. Both are very common in primary aged children.

Set your evening aside to comb every strand of hair from your scalp to the tips. rinse the comb between stands. Look for adult lice and black specs (nits or eggs)

This weekend, explain to your partner or other people you live with that if you have caught nits, you will almost certainly have shared them. You need to treat everyone in the household. Do it every three days until you are clear.

In terms of avoiding them in future, sanitise and rinse your hands as frequently as possible, certainly between each teaching session. Choose a short haircut or at the very least keep your hair firmly tied back or up.

You'll get used to it 🤗

OP, if you are worried about nits the 'Nitty Gritty' comb on Amazon is amazing. Cover your hair in cheap conditioner and comb (follow instructions) - you will know then if you have them and be treating them without chemicals!

Also OP, if you get a white or black sheet of paper and thoroughly shake your head over it (using your hands to rub your scalp), that will
indicate if there’s nits. Eggs are the first step though and won’t show as they stick fast. Nitty gritty comb and thick cheap conditioner is effective

😬

How rude you are @Jeschara. Hope you are teaching your grandchildren better manners than that.

Just read this whole thread and now can’t stop itching!!

My DD had almost waist length hair and I had to use a nit comb daily and was treating weekly or more for years! Was easy with DS as I used clippers on his hair anyway so just kept it very short.

DD’s teacher told me she went thru a can of hairspray a week trying to keep them out!

👏

Jeez, you're getting nastier and nastier to the OP, so unnecessary!

this will be a regular occurrence in younger year groups. Nothing you can do to prevent them attending.

I learned from a hairdresser to wear hair up and spray very thickly so it’s almost wet with a can of ordinary hair spray. Especially the nape of the neck and up the sides.

I’d also be asking for this to go in a newsletter. The little critters don’t like hairspray and are much less likely to climb onto a new head.

I was a teacher for 5 years and to be honest nits and worms are just part of the job. I did a weekly nit comb through and multiple times a year I'd have to treat for the buggers. Worms are sneakier and an absolute nightmare to get rid of. I did read somewhere that in reality once you've got threadworms, you've always got threadworms, and the goal is trying to keep them at a manageable level.

DFE guidance is clear that you should not be keeping children off for nits and they'd take a dim view of it if you stayed off with them too.

Just be thankful it’s your head that’s itching and it’s nits.

WTF! Of course you don’t keep a child off for nits, especially one who has already been treated!

We were never sent home if we had nits. Maybe different local authorities did things differently. We had home visits but the nurse always made sure the other people in the class couldn't identify who had nits. And certainly no one had to stay off school

Yes I agree.
My dd have super long hair, we had to always use at least two bottles at one time and after a few weeks she brought it back from school again- it was a nightmare.

Oh leave the OP alone. She's said she's new to the role and at least has a sense of humour about our gross and disgusting kids. TAs are to be treasured. 😊

4 daughters here. They would never be in if that's the case! Hate the little blighters. I always keep solution in the house. The treatment itself causes very itchy scalp so that could be why they were itching next day.

I have Grandchildren now and I sincerely hope they do not have a TA who is as silly as you. You are a adult, but sound immature.

Kids are gross let's face it. Thankfully mine only ever had nits. Never had the joy of worms thank god.

I caught nits for the very first time from a 2 week work experience in a primary school which was mandatory immediately before I started my secondary PGCE. I discovered I was carrying the little blighters on the very first day of my course, as I was meeting my fellow students and tutors for the first time. I was beside myself, but nothing Hedrin and a nitty gritty comb couldn't deal with.

Once DD was at school she had them a number of times, and her hair was right down her back it was very time consuming combing them out. I kept a comb in the shower and checked myself when conditioning at least once a week.

Worms on the other hand.... I had them as a kid, and the powder you had to put into milk has put me off anything raspberry flavoured rather than actual raspberries for life. Worms can be a beggar to get rid of as little ones don't wash their hands effectively, then play with play dough, which someone else then plays with and sucks their fingers... And if they travel at night from anus to vulva they can really irritate. Waking at night or knackered in the morning, I learnt to question whether bottom was itchy, and kept a pack of (thankfully tablets now not vile raspberry milk) in the medicine box so I could treat all of us when worms found. Nasty.

It’s never just one kid with nits. You could have caught then from any of them. Wait until threadworms make their appearance. Working with kids requires a strong stomach.

OP the easiest and cheapest is a large bottle of cheap conditioner on wet hair, get the hair all lovely and straight and knot free with a normal brush, then use the nit comb all over. With the conditioner they slide out and it's cheaper than pointless nit shampoo which stinks.

you have to do it over a period of weeks though to get rid of the whole nit cycle.

Might as well do your own hair, then at least you know you're in the clear !

My children had headlice for the first time last July. I used the nitty gritty comb every day for the best part of three weeks but every school day we would be back to square one as they were coming home with new adult lice 🤮 it wasn’t until the summer holidays when we finally got clear.
I have been a teacher for almost twenty years and haven’t caught them from my pupils, wearing hair up is really helpful.

Order yourself a nitty gritty and give your hair comb through whilst wet and conditioned twice a week. It's part of the job!