Intimate care for reception age?

[onionlove]

Hiya everyone, quick question, my son did a messy poo at school and his TA rang me at work to clean him as she said she wasn't allowed to, does that sound right? I cant find a policy on their website, I work 1/2 hour away so my lovely neighbour went to him for me, I want to speak to school about it as I'm not happy but not sure what approach to take?

Standard procedure I'm afraid unless he has special needs.

As a general rule parents shouldn't be contacted ... He should be supported to clean himself up or if not possible cleaned up. Only in exceptional circumstances (child refuses to allow staff to clean him/her or extremely soiled - requires a bath) should parents be contacted.

So if I was in a meeting and didn't get the message for a while plus a half hours drive away they would have just left him to be sore, I wouldn't have minded if they helped him to do it im just a bit surprised they didn't want to help at all, he was a bit poorly that day normally he is fine, it does seem a bit harsh. Thanks for your replies x

It's odd to me and i wouldn't like. I'm a childminder and of course I would have cleaned your son up (maybe still had to call you if he needed collecting due to being poorly though). I don't understand why schools 'can't' more likely won't do the same. It's not like I'm more trained in cleaning poo up than they are!

Agree with mrz, we would never contact a parent unless a full wash down was required-which we simply can't do.

If you're a nursery worker or childminder you can reasonably expect to be cleaning up poo in the course of your job.

A TA or teacher won't be though. Why should they?

It's perfectly likely that they wouldn't have wet wipes etc available to clean the kids up adequately. I would call the parent because I wouldn't expect the TA to do it and I'd be worried that if the cleaning wasn't done properly than the child might get sore. Better to go home and get sorted properly.

but teddybear-i asume you childmind in your own home where you have a private bathroom with a bath/shower etc?

At school, a teacher has a public loo with some sinks. You can't stop other children coming into the loos so the child wouldn't have privacy. No teacher/TA is going to go into a cubicle alone with a child-biG no no.

No shower/ no bath -just a pack of wipes maybe.

it's hard!

Yes TAs and teachers working in nursery and reception do clean children who have had toileting accidents.

It's very rare (ie never in my 6years of minding that I've had to use more than wipes to get a child in to a decent state that they can wait for mum (presuming ill).

Of course I expect to deal with poo and www but so should teaching staff. You're dealing with 4/5 year olds in recorion, not unusual to still have the odd accident at that age. Why should they? Because they are in a caring role and should look after the small children in their care. Not leave them in their own excrement, which is appalling.

Apologies for typos!

Not in my school, mrz

My dc is in reception. He has had quite a few messy accidents as he's on movicol and we are still working to get the dose right. He's a poo with holder and frightened of pooing on the toilet. No SN that we are aware of.

The school just deal with his accidents and clean him up. Ive only ever been called once to drop off some spare shoes as his got dirty. They are fine with this and very supportive. He's changed discreetly and quickly, He did get a couple of comments from other kids but that was dealt with swiftly and tactfully. Dc gets rewarded if he managed to make it to the toilet which helps his toilet fear.

We must be lucky in our school choice.

Then they are breaking the law

Oh they do have a shower facility if it's needed.

We had an incontinent child last year, several are still in nappies when they start so intimate care is a regular part of a Reception/yr 1 Teacher/TA role.
Ask your school for the Intimate Care policy, schools should have one.

We currently have three children in nappies in reception ... No diagnosed SEN.

I thought you usually had to make sure they were toilet trained before schools? There are lots of threads on here from mums where nursery has stipulated the kid has to be trained before they can start.

I think that's shocking - nappies at 5!

Do you work in a school sparing? I'm shocked at your POV if you do!

pffft, save your shock. There are reasons why a child may still be in nappies or pull-ups and having accidents at 4/5 (children do start reception at 4)

I didn't think schools were allowed to stipulate that children had to be toilet trained.

Any setting with a policy requiring children to be toilet trained is breaking the law

Also many children who do go on to have a diagnosis of additional needs won't have a diagnosis when they start school.

Yes my school won't let them up from pre prep to nursery if they're not toilet trained, never mind reception. It's private though so presumably that makes a difference.

This is very interesting; my ds's are junior age now so past any accidents bar unexpected illness.

My job is such that although a message can be passed to me I'm going to be unable to leave until a replacement can be found (could be 5 mins, could be 1/2 hr) then I work 45 mins from the school.

My emergency contact is my childminder who is also likely to be out and about with pre school children and babies.

What would policy suggest in that sort of situation? Surely the small child doesn't just sit in poo until help arrives?

Hazey, mrz specifically said the were no SN. Of course it's not shocking if there are additional needs.