School illness rules

I can’t imagine being violently sick one day and feeling recovered enough to return to work/school the next day. Unfortunately there are parents who would send their child back if the rule is lifted.

Presenteeism at its most idiotic. No interest in what's best for the children, just bums on seats at all costs. Whoever decided on that policy should be the one to have to clean up all the vomit and diarrhoea that will ensue.

Silly and shortsighted, because more people getting sick = increased absences overall

I agree with flexibility in cases of sickness that are definitely one-offs, but also disagree with the fever guidance - in my experience children with fevers are still ill so need to be at home, and are also contagious.

Sounds absolutely ridiculous to me! Will also make it much more risky for kids who are immunosuppressed or who have close relatives who are immunosuppressed to attend school.

(DOI GP)

Not acceptable at all. Many more children will be getting sick. The 48 hour rule is there for a very good reason. I would be livid if my child got sick because another child returned to school when they were still contagious. Really dense of the school too, because overall their sickness figures will go up.

I would complain about this. Strongly. Ask them what medical data they have based the revised policy on. What modelling have they done or referred to that shows this is an improvement over the previous policy? How have they ensured no harm will come to children as a result of this?

I would be very prepared to take this to the governors and/or Ofsted and the council if I got no traction.

Numpties.

Generally speaking there’s no such rule in the workplace, so I don’t think it’s unreasonable that schools replicate that. The number of times I’ve had to take 2 days off because my kid puked once but was absolutely fine the next day, is ridiculous. If they are well in themselves they should go in.

I’d be asking for the guidance about what to do if your child is vomiting, and what the evidence base is for getting rid of the 48 hour rule. That sounds ridiculous. Our school used to have a 24 hour rule but upped it to 48 hours, in line with NHS guidance.

I can understand some flexibility depending on circumstances - eg travel sickness. Our childminder used to be flexible with one of my DC who had a non-contagious reason for vomiting. But generally, it’s there for a reason!

What has it been replaced by?

That’s absolutely shocking! Cases of sickness and diarrhoea will be tenfold in that case. I wouldn’t be happy with that at all and I’d be taking it further