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Original poster

headlice - can the school do anything???

26 replies

geekgrrl · 06/12/2004 16:34

Dd's got her first bout of headlice - apparently they're totally rampant in her school and have been for years. I know that her friends have/had them too now so when I told dd's teacher that dd now has them I expected the school to maybe do a letter to parents letting them now there's an infestation on at the moment - but no. Apparently the school isn't allowed to get involved at all?!! Dd's teacher agreed that this is crazy. Surely this is a public health issue?

I'm disgusted and my heart just sinks at the prospect of repeated infestations. Dd has a lot of eczema on her ears and her scalp which tends to get infected, so chemicals are totally out of the question. Even bug busting is hard on her skin with all the conditioner etc. To top it off she's allergic to tea tree oil so we can't repel the little blighters.

She had shoulder length hair which I've had to cut to chin length (lots of tears - dd wanted hair like Rapunzel :( ) so that I could get through with the bug buster comb.

Surely the school must be able to do something??? I'll try to see the head tomorrow but she usually teaches so is hard to get hold of.

OP posts:
LIZS · 06/12/2004 16:47

I think the problem is that there is no real prophylactic treatment (does the tea tree shampoo work btw ?). You are not advised to use the chemical shampoos etc unless there are lice/nits present. Short of excluding each child until they are clear (pia for any working parents) it is really a case of relying on parental vigilance. However I agree that a note notifying direct contacts (such as classmates) that there is a case close at hand and asking all parents to check isn't too hard and in our school (not UK) we do usually get these for infectious diseases and nits.

FlashingRudolphNose · 06/12/2004 16:49

We get notes from school when headlice are reported so that everyone can check at the same time.

I've found combing through with nit comb and conditioner the most effective way of getting rid of them and if you pick a very mild one, you can do it over a few days - HTH

Tommy · 06/12/2004 17:07

My friend had a letter from the headteacher at her DSs school saying that failure to deal with headlice is tantamount to neglect and the school would deal accordingly with parents who failed to take action when their children had nits. (all the parents had the letter BTW - not just my friend! Wink) So that school can obviously get involved. Perhaps you should try talking to one of the parent governors

Roisin · 06/12/2004 17:08

We get a letter for dss each time school is aware of a child in their class with headlice.

Also a couple of times a year the school nurse does an information session for parents on how to check properly for headlice, and how to comb effectively.

happymerryberries · 06/12/2004 17:27

They are annoying but they don't present a health hazard, so there isn't anything the school can do unless the situation is so bad that the school suspects that the child is being neglected. The trouble comes when you get different kids re-infecting the class. It took a two week half term to clear my dd's class.

Nothing realy repels them, not even tea tree. it is just one of those things.

It was better when there was a nit nurse, but they have long gone.

The trouble is that htere are pleanty of parents who know their kids have nits and can't be arsed to do anything about it. And schools cannot refuse the child on health grounds.

MarsselectionboxLady · 06/12/2004 17:31

sadly headlice is part and parcel of primary school life. The only advice I can give is: tie DDs hair back, comb through with nit comb daily (apparently it helps break their legs), at the weekend do a conditioner and nit comb session (we tend to this on a Sunday in the bath). Lice take 2 weeks to grow and produce eggs. Once your child has lice you should do the conditioner comb through every other day for about a week. A pain, but it will be over when they go to senior school. Tea tree oil is fab! I have a tea tree oil shampoo (and when that runs out have been known to drop a few drops of pure tea tree into regular shampoo). Different schools have different policies according to their LEA. Not a lot to be done sadly. If even 1 person doesn't bug bust then the lice continue to thrive. Clean or dirty hair makes no difference.

TheHollyAndTheTwiglett · 06/12/2004 17:47

why don't secondary kids get headlice

(never had it here but DS only 3.9)

TheHollyAndTheTwiglett · 06/12/2004 17:47

that was a genuine question btw .. I just didn't punctuate Smile

MarsselectionboxLady · 06/12/2004 17:48

because they don't tend to put their heads so close together. Watch your little one and see how often his head is pressed close to someone else. That's the only reason why. Headlice walk from head to head and cannot jump. Smile

TheHollyAndTheTwiglett · 06/12/2004 17:50

ah ... thanks Marslady .. now I know

really not looking forward to our first bout (I have long curly hair) can imagine it will be a 'mare

TheHollyAndTheTwiglett · 06/12/2004 17:50

can babies get them too .. in very fine hair??

StuffTheMagicTurkey · 06/12/2004 17:52

My last school routinely sent out advisory letters about "bug busting". Plus, if any child/children had head lice a letter would go home to all parents advising them we had head lice in the class, asking them all to check their childrens hair.

I don't understand why there is a problem about sending letters home.

MarsselectionboxLady · 06/12/2004 17:56

yes, but with babies you tend to see them more easily. Btw I'm not saying that it is impossible for senior school children to get them, just a lot less likely. And there is nothing worse than seeing one of those creatures in your baby's hair. Just to let you know that all of this lice talk is making me itch lol. The only reason I know so much about them is that I have 5 children, 3 in school. I was never going to have headlice in my house because we always have clean hair. But no, even our house got lice and have probably passed them on to others (oh the shame Blush). My children are mixed race and believe me it is seriously difficult to get all the lice out. Vigilance is the key. Boring, annoying, enough to make you send your children to school bald (btw my DS got them in his shaven head), but sadly necessary.

Original poster
geekgrrl · 06/12/2004 17:56

ta everyone. will ring the lea to find out policy. i never had headlice as a child and don't want to accept this as a fact of life just yet. got another week of bugbusting to go, unfortunately dd keeps trying on other people's hair accessories at school - i really told her off this afternoon when she put on someone else's alice band - after all the talking we did about this over the weekend.... Angry
have now ordered something called bizniz which claims to repel them and doesn't contain tea tree oil - anything's worth a try.

OP posts:
MarsselectionboxLady · 06/12/2004 17:59

let us know how it works, though the only thing that I have found to work is regularly checking and combing through with conditioner. Cheaper too. Also, the letters don't work if the parents don't do the busting. Everyone thinks that it's not their child and so the cycle continues. Lice have been a part of our lives for about 9 years now and with the DTs being less than 10 months it would seem we will have them in our lives for about another 11.

happymerryberries · 06/12/2004 18:20

Geekgirl, trust me, you will accept it with time! Smile dd is now the veteran of 3 infestations, ds has had them once. The problem is that little kids (girls especially) will play with their head close together. It only takes one to infect the class, and they are getting very resistant to the insecticides. Combing worked very well but you have to be very careful and spend the time. While I am sure that everyone on mumsnet does, not every parent can be bothered to spend the time.

So unless you are hoeping that the staff can send a child home, or that they can use insecticides of kids who have them (and I can hear the howls of protest already Smile ) it will always happen.

hana · 06/12/2004 18:57

this reminds me that I need to speak to my union about this very thing - at our school we are not allowed to inspect the heads ( the school nurse I mean) or send a letter home to just that family or a general letter or a phonecall! I caught lice about a month or so ago and was livid that nothing is done. It's the same students again and again and again - you can see their heads literally crawling with them.
would be interested what answers you get....

janeyjinglebops · 06/12/2004 19:04

I once taught a boy who had loads of them. They were dropping out of his hair onto his book. Later I spoke tohim and sia does your mum know you have them and he replied "yes but she is using them to feed the tropcial fish"!!! Couldn't believe my ears, and he was sent home till they were gone.

Caligulights · 06/12/2004 23:04

My DS's school sent a letter home asking that we keep children with lice off school until the lice are gone, in order to prevent epidemics.

Seems to work - he hasn't had them, and I haven't heard that there are any problems with them at his school. Don't seem to be many pupils semi-permananently off school either!

FrostyTheSurfMum · 06/12/2004 23:37

I'm with you geekgrrl, DSD comes to us with literally hundreds of the things. I've spent hours in the shower with her wet combing, and used to have to give up when I was pregnant as my feet went numb. I was so upset the first time I found them in dd's hair, she was only a few months old.

snowdonim · 07/12/2004 00:38

TheHollyetc, believe me, secondary pupils do get head lice.Sad Dd1 introduced the only infestation we've ever had to this house, when she was 14.

A friend who teaches in the US said their school was riddled with lice at one time and they undertook a big bug-bust. A nurse observed that lice were crawling across the collars of coats/jackets that were touching as they hung on their pegs. The school changed their peg system and that helped quite a lot!!

misdee · 07/12/2004 07:46

dd2 had head live at 8 weeks old. i was upset, obviously couldnt use the treatments on her so had to comb her hair thro with conditioner every night.

dd1 nursery sends letters home to say there is headlice around.

MerryTissMas · 07/12/2004 08:43

geekgrrl, I'm sure I've seen a preparation on Boots that had oil of sandlewood in it , rather than tea tree oil- it was Australian, but can't rmember what it was called.

MerryTissMas · 07/12/2004 08:44

in Boots, obviously

Carla · 07/12/2004 09:45

Janey, that is truly one of the most revolting things I have ever read Shock