Exclusions for illness

[Ossoduro2]

Just trying to gauge what is normal nursery policy. My children’s nursery policy is that children are excluded for 24 hours following a temperature. E.g if they have a temperature at 4pm on Monday but they are totally better the next day (which is quite common with toddlers), they can’t go to nursery till Wednesday. Is this standard nursery practice or is it just my child’s nursery.

Im aware also of the 48 hour rule for d&v and I totally get that is needed to stop the spread of vomiting bugs etc. I understand this is the rule at all schools and nurseries. I don’t have a problem with this one.

Not unusual. Sickness spreads like wildfire and many settings will have their own policies to manage it. We do allow back the next day after a temperature but say if they've had calpol they cannot come in.

It’s normal and my kids are a teen and tween now.

Not the case at the setting I work at but I wish it was. We have parents bringing their child in every day, spiking a temp by lunch time and getting sent home, just for them to come in the day after and repeat repeat repeat. Tedious and not fair on anyone.

I know a lot of parents don’t take the piss but a lot do knowing their child is unwell

My DD’s nursery has the same policy, I think it’s fairly standard. At one point during the winter we had loads of days off due to temperatures.

Our nursery only send home for a temperature if the child is not well in themselves. A mild temperature where they are playing happily enough, they can stay. If they do get sent home, no exclusion period afterwards. They can come back when they are well enough in themselves to do so.

Our nursery are generally very pragmatic about minor illnesses, and I suspect it's a virtuous circle – in terms of work, it's a lot easier to get leave to cover the full 48 hours after D&V, for example, if you haven't already had a bunch of other days off.

This is the rule at nursery DS went to. Come in the next day unless they'd had Calpol.
Obviously someone parents lied and said their child hadn't had any but you could tell they had as they were done in by 12.
Also pre schoolers used to tell us.

Yes that's fairly standard I think. For ours it's no Calpol in the last 24 hours.

I find the approach about calpol fascinating!
My DC are now teens but our nursery gave calpol. They'd call to say they'd noticed they were a bit under the weather and so had taken their temp, it was a bit high and so was it OK to give calpol. If they child was fine within an hour or so, they could stay all day but if they were cranky, you'd get another call asking to collect them.
What about nurofen? At our nursery, the tactic was always to give nurofen immediately before drop off as you knew that, when that wore off, you could go through the calpol procedure.

The setting I work with has the same policy.

Yes ours is the same.

If they have a mild fever but are fine, they'll call the parents to let them know but don't send them home. If they're obviously feeling rough, or not eating, or really lethargic etc then they will be sent home.

I think it's sensible, and I also think it means that parents are less likely to cover up illness. Partly because they don't feel like the nursery excludes unnecessarily, and partly because they don't have to rearrange work for every mild temp, so feel more able to for the worse things like D&V, bad virus.
I don't think my DDs get sick any more than any other young children at nursery so I don't think it's made any difference in that sense.

Our nursery will give one dose of calpol and if the temperature comes down to the normal range within 1hr then they are allowed to stay. Otherwise they are sent home for 24hrs. Really frustrating for us as our DD's temps generally respond better to baby ibuprofen rather than calpol, but they won't give her this.

Oh yes, we always know!