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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

School illness rules

84 replies

Bazingaaa · 26/10/2025 11:55

My children's school have changed the rules regarding illnesses, are these now the normal rules for all schools now?

"The 48-hour rule, which required children to stay off from school for 48 hours after symptoms of vomiting or diarrhea has stopped, will no longer be in place."

"Please be reminded that if your child has a high temperature and is well they should still attend school"

Alot of people are now worried about it causing a rise in illnesses in the school.

Aibu for thinking that the rules are absolutely ridiculous especially getting rid of the 48hour rule

OP posts:
LlynTegid · 26/10/2025 13:36

The poor attenders are not going to be those off school for a minor illness a day or two more than they would be otherwise.

Crunchymum · 26/10/2025 13:41

Bazingaaa · 26/10/2025 12:40

Unfortunately they're known for doing door knocks, we had them knock on our door last year she didn't go in for 2 days on the morning of the 2nd day they were knocking on the door

Show quote history

If they are short staffed how are they managing to go out and knock on doors?

Silly rules, I'd not be bothering with them.

FurForksSake · 26/10/2025 13:45

Ours goes door knocking on day three even if you’ve phoned in sick. We all know it’s to make sure we aren’t in Benidorm.

Original poster
Bazingaaa · 26/10/2025 13:54

Crunchymum · 26/10/2025 13:41

If they are short staffed how are they managing to go out and knock on doors?

Silly rules, I'd not be bothering with them.

Show quote history

They send their attendance officer who does the door knocks and phone calls

OP posts:
butimamonstersaidthemonster · 26/10/2025 13:59

It’s because people are taking the piss calling their kids in sick when they are on holidays. Just own up and take the fine or they wouldn’t have to go down this route.

MrsCookieCat · 26/10/2025 14:01

2025VibeandThrive · 26/10/2025 12:00

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.

This is exactly why the guidance exists though.

your child may be well in themselves having vomited once but they will still shed virus which could infect others causing the illness to spread. The same virus can present very differently in different people.

user1471538275 · 26/10/2025 14:20

I wish people would stop talking about workplaces.

Childhood is not just traning for workplace exploitation with them being trained to do as much as possible to the benefit of their employers whilst neglecting their own health.

They have adulthood for that.

windywillow9 · 26/10/2025 14:42

user1471538275 · 26/10/2025 13:26

I am genuinely concerned that children are going to become more unwell whilst no-one notices.

Their symptoms will be suppressed by parents to get them into school, this will work for a while but simply hides symptoms whilst the illness progresses. The child will feel awful but will be ignored and by the time parents pick them up they will be more unwell.

This has implications for serious illnesses being seen in a delayed fashion, which has potential negative outcomes.

For what???? Attendance statistics looking better when nothing is actually being done to improve the attendance of children with serious attendance issues.

Agree. Sadly I think this is already happening with covid! Many children (est. 100k) are already chronically ill from repeated covid infections, add in the pressure from schools to attend even while poorly and I really feel for kids these days. Illness rates and absences due to illness in schools have been much higher the last few years than pre 2020, this kind of rule is only going to make this worse.

Also what about the risk to immunocompromised children and caregivers! I hoped we would have learnt not to spread illness all round after the last few years.

mamabared · 26/10/2025 14:49

Five things spring to mind

  1. School does not give a shiny shit about pupils or staff
  2. School is irresponsible
  3. School does not give a shit about learning, health or wellbeing
  4. School has taken already batshit attending when ill policies and cranked the dial up until it is broken
  5. There will be a lot more illness within family members
KeyWorker · 26/10/2025 14:52

Surely it doesn’t really matter what the school say. As a parent, you decide if your child is fit for school or not.

Original poster
Bazingaaa · 27/10/2025 09:24

KeyWorker · 26/10/2025 14:52

Surely it doesn’t really matter what the school say. As a parent, you decide if your child is fit for school or not.

But then you're going to get parents sending their kids in when they're poorly because they will be worried about the threat of receiving a fine. The school give out treats at the end of the week for the class with the highest attendance, they seem to have got worse about pupils attendance since another academy took over as they rank all the schools attendance that are in the academy

OP posts:
ThankYouNigel · 27/10/2025 09:31

It’s awful OP. Schools are increasing treating all children like they are robots who absolutely must not ever be ill/need some time to recover, which is impossible for any human, let alone under 7s with less developed immune systems!

I will continue to keep mine at home for as long as I deem fit when ill. They are my children, that is a decision for me and my DH, not an institution to have the final say on. It is actually very neglectful to send an obviously ill child into school to get more and more run down and infect others. We massively disregard our body’s need for rest in this society unfortunately.

Push back against it!

tumtumtumtime · 27/10/2025 15:45

PotteringAlonggotkickedoutandhadtoreregister · 26/10/2025 12:27

The rule doesn’t exist in the workplace, it doesn’t exist in secondary schools. In real life you stop being ill and, if you feel well enough, crack on. You don’t need to be at home twiddling your thumbs if you feel fine.

Course it exists in workplaces and secondary schools, do you think we in the NHS carry on regardless? Poor teachers! There are plenty of sickness rules that are open to challenge but D&V is not one of them and 48 hrs should be an enforced minimum .@Bazinga this one is worth complaining about ….we had a primary in our patch that had to shut twice to ALL kids last winter for deep cleaning because of a nasty D&V bug.

MumChp · 27/10/2025 15:51

Parker231 · 26/10/2025 12:37

Any school rule is irrelevant. You are the parent and you decide whether, in your opinion your DC is well enough to attend school. Same approach as I’ve always followed.
School aren’t going to turn up on your doorstep demanding your child attends school

They are nowadays... home visits isn't usual.

I am so happy to leave this school sh*t in a few month and go to a country with less obsession with attending school while being sick

PoppySaidYesIKnow · 27/10/2025 16:13

I would send them the PHE guidance and ask them why they are directly going against NHS published guidance to schools? www.nhs.uk/live-well/is-my-child-too-ill-for-school/

Kirbert2 · 27/10/2025 16:18

A sickness bug would likely send my child to hospital due to his health issue. I'd be furious and looking to change schools.

KarmenPQZ · 27/10/2025 16:28

48 hours is pretty insane though right? It means if you child vomits once on a Sunday morning, say 10am, they then can’t go back to school til Wednesday.

in reality if they were well, have eaten something and kept it down since they should be in school on Monday morning.

not all vomiting is a contagious bug and having a blanket rule doesn’t sit well with me. If the parent thinks their child is well enough then that should be enough.

mamabared · 27/10/2025 16:32

There is a strong presenteeism culture here - in work and school. It doesn’t matter how much data there is on how much presenteeism costs, how damaging it is to health, productivity or economy, it’s just obsessively destructive and an excuse to ignore underlying issues. It’s pretty ridiculous to expect better outcomes with such drives towards enforced sickness.

neverbeenskiing · 27/10/2025 17:16

user1471538275 · 26/10/2025 13:13

Parents should be very concerned about quite how much schools are interfering in things that are not down to them.

A parent is the right person to make decisions about their children.

If school has concerns around neglect of a child's needs, including school attendance or health needs they can make a safeguarding referral.

Making blanket rules around how parents manage sickness is beyond their remit.

I can assure you my colleagues and I would dearly love to stop 'interfering' in things that aren't down to us. But since many parents struggle to meet their child's basic needs without the support of school, we don't have much choice. Yes, we can and do make referrals, but the reality is that all but the most serious Child Protection concerns are bounced back to us with the suggestion of "school-led support".

As it happens, the Department of Education and statutory safeguarding guidance makes it clear that monitoring and managing children's attendance (including sickness absence) is very much 'down to us'. We are also expected to follow NHS guidance, and Public Health guidance from the Government when it comes to how infectious illnesses are managed. Hence the 48 hour rule for vomiting and diarrhoea, which the vast majority of UK schools follow and have done for many years. A parent has the right to make decisions about their child but they do not have the right to dictate school policies and procedures. It's incorrect to say that it's "beyond their remit", schools have every right (not to mention a responsibility) to put rules in place to minimise the spread of infectious illness on their own premises.

ClaudiaLee · 27/10/2025 17:30

Hi, I'm a journalist. Would you be happy to talk to me about this in more detail ? If so, please email me at [email protected]

neverbeenskiing · 27/10/2025 17:35

KarmenPQZ · 27/10/2025 16:28

48 hours is pretty insane though right? It means if you child vomits once on a Sunday morning, say 10am, they then can’t go back to school til Wednesday.

in reality if they were well, have eaten something and kept it down since they should be in school on Monday morning.

not all vomiting is a contagious bug and having a blanket rule doesn’t sit well with me. If the parent thinks their child is well enough then that should be enough.

It should be, but unfortunately it isn't. Sadly, IME it's very common for parents to send in children who are very clearly not well enough to be in school. I can't tell you how many times we've had children vomit or have explosive diarrhoea in school then inform us that they were sick last night but their parents thought they were "fine" to go to school this morning. It's also not at all uncommon for children who have D&V bugs to be 24 hours clear and then start vomiting again.

48 hours is not "insane", it's based on evidence around infection control. Schools are following NHS guidelines, they haven't just plucked a figure out of the air. It's also not about your child being "well enough", it's about trying to minimise the spread of infection. Unfortunately, schools end up closing if vomiting bugs spread out of control, which then inconveniences all parents. I say this as the parent of a child who was quite prone to vomiting once then seeming absolutely fine afterwards, so I know how much of a pain it is having to keep them home for 2 days when they seem ok.

ShesTheAlbatross · 27/10/2025 17:36

Idiotic. They’ll end up with more sickness absences overall as children will be back and spreading it round.

ShesTheAlbatross · 27/10/2025 17:42

PotteringAlonggotkickedoutandhadtoreregister · 26/10/2025 12:27

The rule doesn’t exist in the workplace, it doesn’t exist in secondary schools. In real life you stop being ill and, if you feel well enough, crack on. You don’t need to be at home twiddling your thumbs if you feel fine.

Small children aren’t the best at hand hygiene for starters.

But also, we don’t apply a “this isn’t a thing in workplaces so shouldn’t be a thing in schools” to other things.

Most workplaces don’t require a blazer and tie.
Most workplaces don’t require you to only drink water and nothing else.
Most workplaces don’t make you ask to go to the toilet.
Obviously some workplaces will have rules about things but some workplaces will also have the 48 hr rule for vomiting.

The rules that most workplaces have for adult employees should have no bearing on the rules set for primary school children. I’d have thought that was obvious.

ShesTheAlbatross · 27/10/2025 17:44

Sgustin · 26/10/2025 12:48

I think it's fine not to have a hard and fast rule re 48 hrs off for any incident of being sick or having diarrhoea.

I work in schools and staff don't have to follow this rule. It's just when you feel well enough to come back in the only two schools I've worked in where I've had any sickness.

I think you need to use common sense. If you have a child who vomits once after too much cake and excitement at a birthday party for example, you know that's different to a child with norovirus.

Are there other rules that apply to staff that you think should apply to the small children? Or does it maybe make sense to treat adult employees different to 5 year olds.

ShesTheAlbatross · 27/10/2025 17:45

KarmenPQZ · 27/10/2025 16:28

48 hours is pretty insane though right? It means if you child vomits once on a Sunday morning, say 10am, they then can’t go back to school til Wednesday.

in reality if they were well, have eaten something and kept it down since they should be in school on Monday morning.

not all vomiting is a contagious bug and having a blanket rule doesn’t sit well with me. If the parent thinks their child is well enough then that should be enough.

It’s not insane to follow the NHS guidance. For some illnesses the NHS guidance is surprisingly relaxed eg no need for time off school/nursery for hand foot & mouth. So where they do recommend a set time off, I’d assume there’s a reason.