To pull my child out of school?

[crinklysock]

A lad in my son’s class who comes over sometimes is always covered in red dots and scabs, he has been for as long as I can remember and I also noticed it on his older brother too.
Our son started to get the same so we took him to the doctor who diagnosed him with scabies so we treated the whole family and cautiously washed all bedding, clothes, cars and furniture and everything else was bagged up and we got rid of it eventually but it wasn’t easy and took a few attempts at treatment, the emotional affect was horrendous as we continued the cycle and it took it’s toll on all of us mentally.

Lad that’s in the class is still wandering around covered in dots.
This has been a living nightmare for us and I don’t ever want to go through this again, as far as I know the parents don’t know it’s scabies so probably haven’t treated it.
He sits in class with him every day and school coat pegs are next to each other.
I can do all I can but if the other child isn’t treated I can’t prevent re-infection and as I don’t have any proof I can’t say anything to the school about the child but after going through this and all the research I can say that the boy has what looks exactly like it and I’m pretty much without any doubt that they have the same and although I have noticed this on his friend for a long time I’d never heard of scabies so didn’t think anything about it.

I am so concerned my child is going to get it again from them if they don’t get treatment and I am terrified that we’ll face it all again.
I am thinking of changing schools but then I know my son will be devastated as the next school is in the next town.
They are going on a residential trip soon and will be sleeping in a dormitory together which I feel so uncomfortable about but it’s all paid for now and he’s looking forward to it. I am not sure if I should pull him out and lose the money.
We are a large blended family of 6 so treating us is a nightmare as there are other households where they also stay with a parent that needs to treat at the same time.
Is pulling him out of school our only option?

Have you let the school know this is ongoing? The poor child needs to be taken to the doctors.

Have you spoken to the school about your sons diagnosis and the similarities to the boy and his brother ?

Absolutely let the school know everything you've written here. None of the staff will want scabies so I would imagine they'd be proactive. Request your child is not sat near the other child.

Obviously pulling him out of school would be absolutely absurd before you try the obvious first step of talking to the school

Tell the school that your son had scabies and other kids might be infected.

I'm surprised the school hasn't noticed. The untreated children will be very uncomfortable and as a secondary concern it will also be affecting their learning. Please tell the school you've had scabies diagnosed by a doctor and subsequently treated it. It is highly contagious. Hard work I know treating all bedding etc. I've had scabies twice from a classroom during my teaching career, letters are sent out to inform parents ( and of course all staff ) not naming names or year group to be discreet. As an aside, I never once caught head lice!

@crinklysock ofcourse you should let the school know that your DC has had scabies, they will then let all parents know that there has been a case of scabies and it’s contagious so please check their DC and treat whole family and home when necessary.

Same procedure as it would be for head lice!

Also mention you noticed spots on xyz too, it looked like what your DC had so they may want to bring it to his parents attention just incase.

The school doesn’t reveal which child had the scabies.

Why on earth haven't you spoken to the school directly?

Just speak to the school

What did the school say when you raised it?

It can take a while for visible signs/ symptoms to appear. It's quite likely others are infected too. Tell the school before the Easter break if you can.

I told the school about my own child because he was off school during treatment but the school didn’t notify any other parents and we were just told to come back after treatment.
I agree the family should have done something about it a long time ago but even so I can’t just go into school and say I think this child has scabies and I don’t want my child to go near him.
I have already told him not to touch him but I can’t tell him not to play with him.
My biggest worry is when they have school sports it’s over the road in the field and they have to walk holding hands with a partner.

You can tell the school that you are concerned it may be scabies as your child has recently had similar. The school should then talk to parents about it and if they don't take him to the doctors it would then likely be raised as a safeguarding concern.

Yes it can, I have had this lad round and they were up in his room messing around and a few weeks later he had signs and then we all started to get it.
The lad has been round before and I noticed these marks a long time ago as long as they’ve been at school together so I don’t know if the family know or if they do know and just can’t get on top of it.

Edit to say - I have never seen scabies before so had no idea until our diagnosis that this was what it is.

I would speak to the school about it, they can't do anything about it themselves but the kids are likely neglected if they are never rid of it as parents may not be seeking treatment so on the off chance the teachers haven't noticed to do a safeguarding referral I'd say something but ultimately I'd move my kids because the school can't physically change it and nothing will likely change anytime soon.

This is my worry, when I think of the lengths we went to to get rid of this and still had to re-treat and not just the second treatment we had to go back for more as more were appearing and had to be so thorough and careful, it was stressful so if they haven’t treated them in so long are they ever actually going to do it properly and treat the whole family and environment meticulously to prevent re-infection or will they just slap a bit of cream on and say they were treated.
I can’t imagine the teachers could have not noticed.

That poor kid. Do you think he is neglected? I don’t see how your child would be itchy and covered in red dots and for it to do under the radar of his parents.

I would specifically bring it to the school that you are concerned that this child has an untreated scabies infection.

To the best of my knowledge the school should have notified the whole class that there was an incident of scabies anyway. Our school notified the whole school about two cases. They obviously didn’t identify the children but they made us all aware to be alert as to the symptoms.

I can't imagine the teachers haven't noticed either. This is concerning; can you go to the Headteacher, escalate your concerns a bit? And yes, treatment needs to be rigorous and persistent to get rid.

Yes I was surprised too, when I called in to say he’d be off school for his treatment they said he could go back straight after his first treatment.
Nothing was mentioned about it again.

You have to make your concerns known to the school. Pulling you child out before you have done that is a huge overreaction. Talk to the school.

I'm surprised the school haven't got it sorted. When my ds1 had what turned out to be eczema the school insisted we take him out of school and to the gp straight away. They thought it was flea bites.

You could try contacting your school health nursing service and explain that you are worried that the school aren’t being more proactive considering the risk if it being passed on.

I would make a big fuss over this! I’ve caught scabies (I’m a teacher) and we had to close the entire key-stage, get a deep clean and all staff and children affected and our families, had to isolate for two weeks. Ask the school what they are doing about it. I’d go further and post a link to the NHS guidance too.

So I’m not in the uk but scabies is a notifiable illness here if their is a case of two or more in a school (and other institutions) so I would definitely push this in the school.

You absolutely can and must contact the school with your concerns. The whole class could come down with it.
Go in first thing tomorrow & follow up with an email. If you can see the scabs on this poor child I'm sure the teacher can too.
I'd also request he's kept away from your child untill treated.