Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think school sickness policy is a ludicrous?

181 replies

Pinkvoid · 01/12/2017 11:32

The same school that have ‘attendance awards’, are always hammering hard to parents about attendance and leave a comment in every school report about your child’s attendance, despite the fact they were off for things that couldn’t be helped such as chicken pox Hmm.

I missed a days work yesterday because DS (7) had been sick once the evening before, most likely caused by overeating but I erred on the side of caution. Explained this to the school when I called. He was fine all day yesterday so I sent him in today because why wouldn’t I.

I was already half way to work when I got a phone call telling me to collect him because it was ‘school policy’ that it had to be 48 hours from the last time they vomited. I was pretty furious tbh. Explained that I was two miles away on my way to work which I was due to start in fifteen minutes, I didn’t have anyone else to collect him and that he was absolutely fine/it wasn’t a stomach bug because he’d only been sick once and wasn’t unwell after- it was clearly either overeating or he’d probably been jumping around too much after eating. They weren’t accepting it, insisted I had to collect him and that he couldn’t be in school. So I had to turn around, call in sick at work last minute which they obviously weren’t pleased about and take him home. DS was also upset because he actually loves school and would much prefer to be there than at home bored with me...

AIBU to think they’re being ludicrously over cautious there and common sense should surely prevail? He’s now missed two days of education and I’ve missed two days pay because he vomited once, two nights ago Hmm. Also worth noting, I had no idea the school even had a policy, this is the first I’ve heard of it.

OP posts:
desertgirl · 01/12/2017 19:45

My DD as a toddler went to a nursery with this policy - and suddenly developed travel sickness; used to arrive at nursery covered in vomit and have to go home. After a couple of weeks I got her a forward facing car seat just in case that would help.... bingo, no more vomiting. I wa pretty sure every time that she wasn’t ill..... but there you go.

tinysparklyshoes · 01/12/2017 19:58

Right, so in "sickness season" (as if there was one Hmm) my child can't have an education, because you like stupid blanket rules. Hmm

Well luckily you aren't in charge and I don't live in the NHS nanny state, so it's all good.

geekone · 01/12/2017 20:10

My DS gets children's migraines probably about once a month and vomits every time. There is no way I would keep him off school for this the next day.

MaisyPops · 01/12/2017 20:21

Nobody is saying your child can't have an education! FFS stop being so dramatic.

As I've said at least twice on this thread, if your child's condition is such that additional arrangements need to be made then surely you've notified the school, they are aware and there are appropriate arrangements in place.

If not, then that's what should happen.

Until then, when there's bugs going around a class then I'm of the view that the 48 hour rule is entirely sensible as nobody has the ability to say 'my child hasn't got the bug going round'.
If you think you have that ability then great, but i feel for kids who come down poorly (like thr children mentioned by other posters who can end up in hospital etc) because you've sent a vomiting child to school.

TheFairyCaravan · 01/12/2017 20:32

Why are some posters looking for a row?

DS1 had 2 conditions that caused vomiting and because we provided medical evidence the schools he went to worked with us.

He suffered with Cyclical Vomiting Syndrome and would puke up to 40 times a day for a week or more. We never knew, especially at this time of year, for the first 12-24 hours if he had a bug or an attack unless one of the family had had a bug in recent days. He almost always got admitted to hospital and was quite ill, and very wiped out, but once he perked up and it was obvious it wasn’t a bug we didn’t have to wait the 48hrs if he was well enough to go back to school.

He, also, suffered with migraines and would vomit. When he was well he was allowed back to school.

If there was any doubt in my mind that either of my kids had a stomach bug I wouldn’t send my kids to school for the 48hrs.

MaisyPops · 01/12/2017 20:38

Not looking for a row at all TheFairyCaravan

From your post you've done exactly what I've said now 3 times on this post:

Child has a medical condition.
School are informed.
Appropriate adjustments are made to keep bugs out of school and children educated
No denying anyone an education or anything.

As you've said, if you had any doubts then you'd keep them off so I'd imagine if a vomiting bug was going round the class then you'd err on the side of caution, which is sensible because nobody can say 'they definitely haven't got the bug that half the class have had'.

You seem very balanced and sensible.

mercurymaze · 01/12/2017 20:40

Only read op (sorrry)

but my new job does not pay for us to take the first two days off sick so we have to go in sick or not! this is also a LA job. they need to have a blanket wide policy as parents cannot lose money taking time off to care for a sick child, but when you are a adult it's like the rules change!

TheFairyCaravan · 01/12/2017 20:40

I wasn’t meaning you Maisy

MaisyPops · 01/12/2017 21:45

TheFairyCaravan Phew.
I was worried I'd offended you accidentally.
Grin

It's all common sense really.
Child with long term illness- do what you and I have said
Bugs going round - err on the side of caution and don't send them into school to potentially infect everyone (we had a chunk of our team off lately... funny that this coincides with lots of kids being off and a few puking incidents... and we are in secondary!)

Luckymummy22 · 01/12/2017 21:53

I sent my girl to school the other week 36 hours after she vomited and I would do it again in same situation.
She did not have a sickness bug. She just downed to much squash on an empty tummy and then went crazy on a bouncy castle!
My boy used to vomit randomly all the time. My girl as well.
Nursery used to take them in as long as it only happened the once.
One time my daughter was sick there and they told me should come in the next day - she was sick and then immediately running about again.
Yes 48 hours is important but mother’s do know their kids

CauliflowerSqueeze · 01/12/2017 21:58

OP if you know he was just sick from eating too much or jumping around then you should just have said he had a stomachache and sent him in. Don’t mention the one instance of being sick if everything else seems fine.

NameWithChange · 01/12/2017 22:13

I feel for you OP.

I have now had 5 instances (in the last few months) where my DS has been sick after spending time with my EH and eaten a varied assortment of absolute shit. He has been returned home to me in the evening, spent the night throwing up, been almost back to normal in the morning (having cleared all the crap out of his system) but I have then had to take time off work to look after him. Beyond fed up with it.

Mammyloveswine · 02/12/2017 05:16

I'm a teacher and heavily pregnant (almost 36 weeks). The sickness bug has swept through my school because parents have been sending their children in as "they were only sick once".
I caught the sickness bug and it was horrendous, couldn't keep anything down and husband had to take time off work (unpaid) to look after toddler son as I didn't want to inadvertently pass on the bug through him (he didn't get it in the end). I've been teaching a fair while now and usually manage to avoid nasties but not this year!
Hazard of the job but not helped by people not following policy!
Yabu. If you were so sure you should've told school he was just "under the weather" when he was off.

Katherine2626 · 02/12/2017 18:04

I always understood the ruling was 24 hours free of sickness; not much help to you now but for future reference it might be worth checking with the LEA .

purplebunny2012 · 02/12/2017 18:43

YABU, you can't possibly know if it was overeating or a bug. Nor can the school so they err on the side of caution

purplebunny2012 · 02/12/2017 18:47

They also have to record that they have told you attendance needs improving. They obviously know you can't help the sickness, but have to show they are tackling absences at the same time.
I would just not worry when you get your "ticking off"

wildchild554 · 02/12/2017 19:18

It's standard practice to try keep stomach bugs at bay. Unfortunately sometimes you can be sick one day then fine till the next and then sick again. They don't always hit you in the same. have had this when i thought i was better to find next day i had my head down a toilet bowl again. I have to do the same with my sons if they have a bought of reflux from eating something, normally at school :/ . Only difference is I know when its reflux cause the symptoms are slightly different and giving them some medicine promptly makes them better . I still have to follow policy though as stomach bugs spread so easily.

ferrier · 02/12/2017 19:27

Maybe some leeway should be exercised not just for 'child with known medical condition' but also child with known propensity to vomit if jumping around after big meal (mine - I knew exactly when vomiting was for this reason) and child who tends to vomit with coughing fit.

BackBoiler · 02/12/2017 19:39

This is why you do not mention they have vomited until you are sure its d&v....i am third kid in so well seasoned with school rules.

purplebunny2012 · 02/12/2017 19:52

Katherine2626, it's been 48 hours at least since my DS was in nursery 5 years ago

BabyOrSanta · 02/12/2017 20:01

The problem with not telling the school they have been sick is that the child could tell their teacher then you would look even worse...

Unhingedtoday · 02/12/2017 20:06

I honestly don't know why I just read this thread as I am severely emetophobic! Just about holding it together at the moment as DS is in his first year of school Confused but from the sounds of this thread the sickness bug is EVERYWHERE at the moment!

My DS is often sick when coughing and I never know if I should keep him off, although having said that, he is usually poorly with his cough so he is off anyway.

Please everyone abide by the 48 hr rule, just to help us poor emetophobes if nothing else Wink

Sara107 · 02/12/2017 21:02

I think a lot of people ignore the 48 hour rule and that's why these bugs circulate so rampantly through schools. DD often tells me that children have come back the next day after being sick and they have got sick at school. Somebody can be spreading virus around even if they haven't been badly effected themselves, especially as children aren't always great at washing their hands.

jkgirl · 02/12/2017 21:22

I work in a school, and I know how quickly these bugs spread. It’s incredible how many parents try to send their children back to school before they are better.
I often have to do the calling if a child is ill, and I dread the silence on the other end of the phone when I have to tell the parent to come and collect the child because I know how difficult it is to leave work to come and collect, but it is necessary for the child’s welfare and the welfare of the other children in the class.

Labradoodliedoodoo · 02/12/2017 21:30

You knew the policy. You would have been better not telling them he’d been sick if it was just over eating.

Swipe left for the next trending thread