HEAD LICE CRAZY Policy in school. Can anyone shed light on this? Any TEACHERS about?.

[Eaney]

OK there is a lice problem in my DS's class. Met a mum today who told me that she told the teacher that her dd had lice and that she better let the other parents know. Teacher said that it was not the policy to inform the parents of this even in a general note.

Three weeks later we get a note not sure why must be a change of policy. The mum also told me that the teacher told her there is one child in the class that is so infested the lice fall out of his/her hair onto the paper she is working on. Apparently the parent of this child is unlikely to read any note.

I have read here that there is a general policy nationwide of not informing directly an individual set of parents of their child's infestation and I was wondering what is the reason behind this. Anyone know? If a school wanted to employ a zero tolerance of nit/lice (not allowing any infested children into the school untill clear) would it be lawful. Not sure how this could be done but if it could.

As an aside I found one egg on ds's hair after a wet comb and a couple of days later one tiny louse. IS this usual or do you think the comb is missing some.

It depends on the comb Eaney and how thick the child's hair is.

I've done a session with a normal plastic comb only to find loads more when I use the nitty gritty comb.

However, I'll comb again a three days later, and there are more! Big ones too which obviously haven't just hatched.

I think it's to do with human rights. Don't know exactly though. I do know that staff aren't allowed to say anything to the child directly. Don't know about the parents (I taught secondary). I know it's policy to send letters out to all parents once an infestation has been spotted (in primary NOT secondary)

I could only get the BOOTs comb. Where can I get the nitty gritty comb. Read good things on here about it. My DS is mixed race so has soft curly hair. DP says the combing is quite easy to do once tangles are removed and it is quite short. The louse was so tiny had to use one of DS's magnifying glass to see it.

It's probably something to do with a right to eduaction. Can't understand it as the research I've done suggests that lice are a health hazard and can transmit disease. Apparently that's where the term feeling lousy comes from.

I can sympathise as parent entirely. As teacher of small children I should know the answer to this one categorically but don't! I know we are not allowed to rush them off the premises any more. I also know that we have a letter to send to parents whose children are riddled. I think technically I am not supposed to touch any child's hair but can spot the scratchers and Ihave an eagle eye for the little varmints.
My suggestion is that you try and persuade the school to inform parents somehow. At my school as the children are collected from the classroom we put up a poster saying that there are cases of headlice about( even if there is just 1) and could parents check their child's hair. At my daughter's school they send home a note to parents in that class.
Keep checking the hair- keep it tied back and slather with conditioner at hairwashing time. Cases get less frequent as they get older

Social inclusion (yawn) or something, probably. Actually, pretty sure it's that and the right to education. It's no longer part of the school nurse's remit either. It's very bizarre, and so unhelpful to the rest of the parents who are trying hard to keep the nits at bay

I know a teacher who had a little girl with nits in her class. Her parent's solution was to shave her head . Poor lamb.

We frequently get notes that say something along the line of "a vigilant parent has spotted headlice, please check you dd/ds's hair". Never had one so far, but they are very common in nursery/infant school children (because of the close physical contact when they play together), and not necessarily a sign of poor parenting.

PSP do you ever speak to the parent of the riddled child or is the letter targeted in that it says 'your child is riddled.....' as opposed to the general note all parents get.

I know it's not a sign of poor parenting it's just that sometimes we can miss things and I for one would be happy for the teacher to point it out to me.

My DD gets them every time they go round the school. Just unlucky I guess - she hugs everyone so I suppose it's to be expected.

In reception, her teacher told me she had seen her scratching (very nicely) - I wasn't offended though. At her school,they send notes home to every child saying "headlice found in school - please check your child".

Sorry, meant to say, get a Bug Busting kit - available on prescription.

V Good.

My dd is in yr 6 and got them for the first time last term. I went into school and told her teacher, thinking I was doing the right thing because she had presumably caught them from someone in her class (the other dds didn't have them) and they told me to take her home. DD was mortified, and it certainly put me off being so open about it next time. Is this common practice?

Did they say she couldn't come back untill she was clear?

DD (7yrs) has had them a few times and it is always the same 2 girls that bring the buggers in. but the school is only allowed to send a letter to all pupils informing that nits are around and to check you're child, but if parents don't do it they will never go away.

My dd is the one to catch them EVERYTIME I seem to spend hours denitting, using a repellant etc etc. However her sister never gets them!!

Before DS started reception I went to a talk and the Head covered what would happen when (not if) your child got nits. Apparently they send a letter home to all the class and the child with the infestation is actually sent home when they are spotted but not allowed back in until they have been treated (so in practice the next day).

Can just imagine going to my boss and saying "sory I need to go home, DS has got nits".

We also have a general letter informing all parents in that class. Dd gets them regularly Ds has never had them. I am also a volunteer assistant in nursery/reception and get them at least once a term to my anoyance, as I have thick long hair which is a pain to comb through Dh has to do it for me role on the holidays when we have a break from it

Crunchie-- they said until she had been treated, which given that I just used the wet-combing-with-conditioner method, I'd already started. It just all seems so confused and half-baked: there are kids hoaching with the things, and the teachers aren't allowed to inform their parents, and then a kid like my dd, catching them for the first time, who gets sent home just because I mentioned it. No wonder it's an 'ongoing problem' (as the damned letter always says.)

Just spoke to a friend who works in the social services who said that a parent whose child is chronically infested could be accused of neglect if the infestation is forever untreated.

Interesting thought.

AT my kids school a general note goes out saying there is a case of nits and could everyone check their kids hair. We had the same thing for worms, and when DS had hand, foot and mouth a note was put in the window.

Sorry, Eaney, meant you not crunchie, didn't I?

(SM-- thought for a moment you meant they put a note in your window. 'Keep out. Child with highly contagious disease. Food parcels to be left on the doorstep.' )

Bring back Nitty Nora I say. I can still remember clearly lining up and having that smell of dettol and the metal comb going through my hair! The thing is it did work and I think we should go back to that again!

School nurses are a real shortage profession, so I think it very unlikely, also their role has changed a great deal since that time. I remember one poor girl being made to undo all her braids for the "nit nurse", and being in floods of tears at primary school. Can't think that was really necessary.

Eaney- yes the child with the infestation is given a different letter from the rest. We rely on the poster in the classroom window heavily. Having said that I know my parents well enough to quietly say that their child... has been scratching furiously during the day.. they might want to check for visitors...(even when the buggers are so big they've joined weightwatchers)
Having a poster on the window means the parents chat about it themselves and so check their kids and there's no real stigma attached; it is just infuriatingly time consuming.
And yes I also know of kids on the at risk register where failure to deal properly with nits is an issue.

My daughter just started in the nursery of a state school. We were asked to sign a letter that gave permission for the welfare assistant to check for nits if necessary.