Sick kid at school

[AmITheOnlyOneWhoCares]

Yesterday my son came home and said bob (not real name) was sick at lunch in the dinner Hall.
Today he came out of school and le waiting for his siblings i asked who he had played with and one of the names he mentioned was bob. I wen back to speak to the teacher and ask why bob was back less than 24hrs after been sick. .. she basically snapped my head off and said it's no one's business to be questioning the head teachers decisions on this.

Now back story.....my son was sick all weekend and off Monday. Also a parents involvement activity afternoon was cancelled on Monday as so many children and staff were off with a sickness bug.

Aibu to think if there is a bug going round then they should enforce the 48hr sickness rule?? Aibu to be annoyed that this kids has come back so soon and could infect my child again (amongst others ) and I'll end up another weekend cleanings sick and having to take more time off work as I actually do keep mine off 48 hrs? ??

Obviously the school can't give you any details about Bob however YANBU to ask why the school isn't enforcing the 48 hour rule especially if there is a known bug circulating.

DS has a health condition which makes him vomit. Nothing to do with a stomach bug. You don't know whether this was similar?

I'm a teacher. We've been told my the LA that we can't actually force a parent to keep them off. If they feel they are well enough to attend then so be it. We can obviously call them if the child is still unwell but can't force them.

I’d be cross too. If it wasn’t due to infection, then there are ways of telling you if you ask without compromising confidentiality. I take the view that as a parent, I am entitled to know if my DC is being exposed to a nasty bug in contravention of school rules.

My DC's school says at the parents' discretion. Throwing up isn't always caused by something infectious.

If it wasn’t due to infection, then there are ways of telling you if you ask without compromising confidentiality.

Like what? My DD has a condition which means she sometimes vomits with no infection present. I'm fairly relaxed about people knowing but that's my decision and if a teacher at her school told another parent anything about her medical history in this sort of situation I'd be livid.

there are ways of telling you if you ask without compromising confidentiality.

I'm pretty sure the teacher did exactly that. She told her it was nothing to do with her. Which I would take to mean that there are other circumstances OP isn't aware of which make the child's return to school acceptable. How else could the teacher have spoken to OP without breaking confidentiality?

My daughter was still allowed to stay at playgroup, primary school and high school even when she was sick at school. Not all medical conditions causing vomiting are contagious.

It's none of your business why 'Bob' was allowed to be at school.

Your son will be immune to this strain of norovirus for 14 weeks post infection. It’s very unlikely he’ll get it again so soon after the last bout. If it’s still circulating round the school in 14 weeks then he could get it again.

But that is why the 48hr rule is sensible because it makes it less likely to continually circulate causing absence and suffering and work problems. So YANBU

None of your business

My child is fit and healthy, attends sports clubs and has no health problems. He does, however, retch if he sees a banana. Especially one that’s been mushed up by one of the nursery children. This lead to him being a bit sick at school one lunchtime. He could explain very clearly what had happened and why and I’d have been a bit irritated if he’d had to have 48hours off afterwards (might have given me chance to do some banana exposure therapy though!)

I think it's your business to ask under what circumstances the 48 hour rule can be ignored/wavered and I think it's parents like you that make a fuss that ensures that teachers who don't want to cause an argument with parents (understandably they have enough on their plates) actually send children home again.
I know in schools I've worked in we view parents who send children in the next day are cheeky fuckers and need to be pulled up on this. Schools are educational settings, not childcare. But some teachers will let is slide, especially for certain parents who we all know will make a big fuss. I used to stand on the door and send them back with their parents, but some would drop their kids off around the corner and let them walk into the playground themselves, even had parents of nursey age children do this! It's rediculous.
I get that parents have to work, but so do the parents of every other child in that school, they don't want to be called out of work because their kid has been puking from picking up a kid from little Bobby just because his parents need to work too!
And teachers shouldn't be having to play nurse maid to a bunch of ill children, being exposed to vomit and cleaning it or the children up.
I as an adult self impose a 48 hour rule on myself, mainly in the hopes that by the time I return (hopefully without spreading further infection) that the bug has passed.

To be fair, that teacher had no business snapping at you that you shouldn't question the head teacher's decision.

No matter what the reason, the rule is 48 hours so you have EVERY reason to question the head teacher's decision.

taybert DD used to be the same with greasy food, big problem in school on Fridays, and given that we used to live 2 doors down from a chip shop.

YABU OP - you need to be a bit sneaky first though and find out why Bob was off sick and then complain. Its really not on for schools to be taking back children who have a sick bug.

It could be that he has a medical condition but it could also be that he has the sort of parent who sends in an ill child and has no qualms at all about making other people ill. In which case the school needs to be incensed to make a better decision next time the ill "Bob" is sent in.

Governors letters generally get action.

Twice this year DD has had to leave school early because she was sick, and both times (two weeks apart), she came home, ate well for the rest of the day and played happily until bedtime. She didn't vomit again for the rest of the day. Both times I sent her to school the next day. I believe the sickness was down to anxiety - but I knew for sure both times that it wasn't a bug and wasn't infectious.

It could have been all the above things ... Or it may be that head teachers don't actually want children to abide by the 48 hour rule for sickness because it drags their attendance figures down.