Aaaaaaaarrghh. My child has been sent home from school YET AGAIN. I have had to come home from work and of course, she's FINE. I'm tempted to write a letter to the school asking them not to send her back so quickly....

[foxinsocks]

but I suppose, I can see it from the teacher's perspective.

She has no temperature. She has, what looks like to me, a heat rash. And err that's it. Their classrooms are unbelievably hot. They did tell me that they are trying to leave windows and doors open to cool them down. She has very thick hair and has always had a tendency to over heat.

But I am in a new job, only in about the second month of it and already, between the two of them, they've had about a whole week off school (validly so because they were ill).

Dd's teacher, who doesn't see eye to eye with me, said 'ooh she needs to be checked out by a doctor'. I said 'she's not ill, she's got a rash that will probably go away the minute she steps out into the playground' and she said 'well, we have to be careful with rashes'.

Well YES, with rashes that don't blanch and rashes when a child is obviously ill but rashes (and honestly, you can hardly see it - they had to position her right under a light to show me where it was) when a child is sitting in maths, answering questions, laughing with her mate, in an obviously overheated classroom arrrghhhhhhhhhh

I had a call from school one morning, first thing, asking me to pick up DS from school, who I had dropped off 15 mins earlier.

He had said that he was not feeling well but I thought he was trying to get out of games.

Throwing up outside the HM office and on HM shoes persuaded me differently!

As a teacher it can be difficult to make a judgement and it is very easy to upset parents.

I have had parents complain because I have sent a child home and parents complain because I haven't sent a child home.

I do tend to err on the side of caution since a pupil told me she felt ill and before I could answer projectile vomited over me, my interactive whiteboard and 3 other pupils.

I've been called twice to pick up daughter since September. First time, I was having lunch with my sister in a nice restaurant (it was my birthday). School said she had gone very pale, then very flushed. Took her temperature at home - 36.9, and nothing wrong at all. Second time she had a bad fall and bumped her head. They couldn't get hold of me, so phoned husband who rushed home from work fearing a concussion. Once again, she was fine apart from a sore knee. Then when I sent her into school the next day they told me off for not changing her dressings. The plaster had been on for less than 24 hours, and I know how much it hurts ripping those things off children.

The worst thing is when you get the call you think there must be something really wrong, because when we were small there would have been. I don't work so it must drive working people crazy.

Think this is one of those no win situations for schools and parents!
As a teacher, its really hard sometimes to decide how poorly children really are ... and in this world of being sued its sometimes easier to err on the side of caution. We have parents who complain if we ring them and others who complain if we don't! As a working mum, I'd be mad if I was called by nursery for something little though! As for the rash, I'm 8 months pregnant and I know that our office staff have been lovely and vigilent at sending any children with rashes home / to be checked out during my pregnancy.