'Excluded' for nits - is this acceptable?

[weblette]

Posting on behalf of a friend although ds3 has been 'affected' too.

Ds3's yr1 has a problem with nits - or parents not treating...
Goodness knows I know about it, despite combing all of my four every week, he always has a new adult or five on a Sunday night.

Friend was called by school on Thursday am - "she has nits, come and collect her" - told to take her home for the day. Friend had combed dd at the weekend, cleared a few so head was nitless but now had several large adults. Luckily she wasn't working so took dd home, wet combed, applied lotions, head nit-free. However her dd had to stay at home for the day.

Next morning, call from school - we've found a nit in her fringe, come and collect her again. Not withstanding the fact that adults don't just drop out of a child's head and she had no others, was any of this legal?

With 4 dcs I understand completely how utterly frustrating it is to have untreated nits in a year group. I've lost count of the the hours wasted tbh...

However to me it sounds so very dodgy on so many fronts - there is nothing on the school website about sending a child home if they have nits. How can they justify a child losing a day's education on that basis?

Friend is fuming and wants to know how best to approach the school about this. Please don't say 'check for nits more regularly', we all do atm...

Oh, and we both have very long hair. Full Marks was all that worked for us.

DS's school sent home a letter this term stating that keeping your child home for nit treatment, or even arriving at school late because de-lousing was going on, would count as an unauthorised absence.

So I assume they don't send children home because they have spotted nits.

I used to work in a school, and the policy there was send 'em home. One boy throughout KS 2 was sent home repeatedly but would arrive back the next day after nothing more than a hair wash and a shorn head.

Within a few days he would be covered in them again. Mum seemed sensible but I don't think she imagined it was a big deal.

I can see him now, plunked on a chair in the office, waiting for her. He would run his hands through his hair and pull out adult lice to play with

Lamu -sorry -hope you don't mind - just interested really in the urban myth/truth - did a google and found something (from a book) that said the same as I did up thread... different lice prefer different hair shaft shapes - could your DD have got them from someone with afro/mixed race hair? Maybe your DD curls are due to hair shaft shape?
Like I said mine (mixed race - north African) their DP has almost afro hair - DD1 has similar hair - not quite so curly (but very dry - get her cholesterol conditioner - struggled to find it here - in Brixton they sold it in Tescos!) -and did wonder if that was why they had passed her by...
(DD2 has hair slightly more like mine - but her best friend at school had them and she didn't...)
Blood group thing is interesting too- I'm A Rhesus neg - think one of mine (DD1? maybe DD2...) is also A neg - I've never had them either (although my head is itching like mad now - and I have a couple of itchy midge bites (did got mobbed by them on a walk though) making me feel even worse...
DP did have lice as a child - he has O blood group...

Just reading this thread is making me itch!

I know treating kids is expensive but you really need to get them clear of nits.

Are kids allowed headlice medicine on prescription? So it would be free for those who are finding it expensive to treat regularly??

My DS had nits a few years ago, we used the lyclear mouse which was very good, but then I shaved his head too and deloused the rest of the family.

If long hair keeps getting infested then cut it shorter - at least you have less to treat then too. Long flowing locks are a real hazard!

Don't know about exclusions, but I hope your friend's child and class get clear of the lice quickly - all the best

I'm pretty sure you should be able to get headlice treatment on prescription.

Here it's different as GPs won't see children with nits, or issue prescriptions - but chemists will give Hedrin free to children under the the care in the chemist scheme.

IME Hedrin works well if you follow the instructions properly, and it's pretty simple and quick to use.

Combing also works but you need to be absolutely thorough, and as this thread shows not all parents are. It's also very time comsuming if you're dealing with several children and/or very long and thick hair.

unlucky We've recently moved to a village which is probably 99% Caucasian therefore I doubt that this is a different strain of lice IYSWIM. Dp is white. Her hair is typically mixed race with soft large curls and mine is very course with tiny tight curls. There are no other African/Caribbean families here that I've noticed so can only assume it was from a caucasian child she'd come across locally.

For sockreturningpixie

You can't really state its an exclusion as fact unless you do refuse and they then ramp it up to an actual exclusion.

Yes you can. The child has been removed from lessons. That is an illegal internal exclusion regardless of whether or not the child is sent home.

Also, it is well established that telling parents to come and collect their child is an illegal informal exclusion. It matters not what the school would do if the parents refused to collect their child. The school has already broken the law.

Leaving the child in lessons and asking the parents to take them home for treatment is fine. As soon as the child is removed from class on the basis of having nits the school has acted illegally.

Then is it against the law for a child to be sent to the head for a talking to,or to wait by reception when poorly to be collected or have a calm down zone?

I sure as hell would not want to sit in a busy classroom scratching hell out of my head or having people see visible adult lice

Going to the head for a talking to is not an exclusion of any kind. It is part of the disciplinary process. It only becomes an exclusion if the child is then not permitted to return to class.

Waiting by reception when poorly is acceptable as the child has been removed from class due to the health risk, which is not an exclusion of any kind.

A calm down zone should be acceptable provided the child will only spend a short time in this zone and will then return to class.

The law is perfectly capable of distinguishing between these things and illegal informal exclusions, whether internal or external.

Lamu - damn it - that's my false sense of security dashed...
Lets hope the A neg blood does the trick instead...

HarryH

Not sure if you are still on but my mum has a very bad scalp periodically (open sores etc). She uses an E45 shampoo. She's tried everything inc the Neutrogena one.

OP. I don't think your friend can be going through the correct process to get rid of them and personally, I think if a teacher can 'see' Lice or nits, a child can be sent home for treatment, to return next day.

DD is 9 and never had nits, but within two weeks of starting back this term, came home and whilst she was doing her homework, a fully grown lice dropped off! I was horrified, but got on MN and dealt with it.

First I wet combed with conditioner that night and found a few small ones. Did my hair and DP too and changed the beds/ towels. Next night we all did Hedrin and combed that through, did get a few again on her head, none on us. Third night wet combed ( she watched a film and it took an hour, as her hair is very long! A few nits, nothing else.

We then left it two days and combed again, left another two days, by which time it as a week, so Hedrin and beds/towels changed again - pain in the bum!

We continued with the combing for the fo,lowing week, finding nothing, although I had a few nits, or it could be dry skin, so Hedrin for me again.

We are now nit/lice free and have been coving every three days, but am going to do to weekly now, starting Fri. Basically two weeks to rid us and then another few weeks to maintain it.

We didn't do cuddlies, and am now thinking, I will wet comb in the morning and put them in the wash!

Tedious to the extreme, but can be done!

I should be acceptable.

Hedrin stops working after a few applications.

Hedrin stops working after a few applications.

I very much doubt it, as it works by basically coating them with silicone, they cant become resistant to it.

It does.

There are copious threads where people have noticed this.

I used to swear by it- then it stopped working.

It may will kill the lice but not the eggs which then hatch later.

but that time lapse thing is well known about eradicating any parasites - was nobody attending in O level biology?

It isn't acceptable to send children home for having nits. It is illegal because it is denying a child their education.

Having nits is irritating (in more ways than one) but they do not cause illness. I have come across some children with secondary infections but that is due to their own parents not treating them.

Some children, through no fault of their own, would lose too many days of learning. Yes their parents should deal with it but sometimes they don't. Still isn't the child's fault.

It's not just the head that has to be treated. Parents have to wash bedding, clean mattresses, clothing including hats and jackets, maybe give carpeting and furniture the once over, stuffed animals have to be put through a wash and dried in a hot dryer or put in a freezer, or sealed in a plastic bag for a fortnight. Then you have to go over the heads of everyone else in the family.. All of this is a massive pita for a parent who has more things to do than hours in a day.

So I am all in favour of excluding children who have them, as long as this is accompanied by clear instructions (American site) to the parent as to what they need to do to give themselves a fighting chance of eliminating them. And I agree, if parents are not treating this, it is a flag for neglect.

BurberryF -- YYY, you most likely have to do the treatment twice to hit the entire life cycle. Same goes for worms.

It may not be the child's fault but it is better for the children.

When I was teaching we did and it was in no way epidemic like it is now soooo kids with it weren't teased,could concentrate instead of scratching and didn't feel 'lousy'.

When you send kids home parents who don't treat mysteriously suddenly do so,it stops it spreading.

Personally I think they should send kids home and fine parents for days off.Would save anguish for all kids,wasted time for parents and ££££££ on products.

Aside from anything else non treating is neglect and should be dealt with seriously.

mathanxiety I do understand where you are coming from and yes persistant head lice infection can be a sign that all is not well.

However, I cannot agree with a senario where a child would lose out on their education for something that isn't their fault for the convenience of other people.

But it occurs less so would rarely happen.

Logically it would seem so but in general the children I see persistently with them is due to lack of understanding from the parents who are really trying but maybe can't quite seem to keep on top of things. They get support and guidance but it just doesn't seem to work out. So the same vulnerable children would miss out.

nits have been around since Adam was a lad and I don't think they are going anytime soon. If sending children home and having children checked by the nit nurse worked, people wouldn't have caught nits when I was a child but they did.

I never had it,my sister had it once.

My 3 have had it consistently since rec.

The current system is too soft and the ones it hurts most are the very ones you're talking about.