Do you have to inform school about nits & threadworms etc...?

[fireflyfairy2]

We got a letter home yesterday saying there was an outbreak of nits in dd's calss & to check their head & take the appropriate steps.

I checked her head (And so did her auntie!) And she is clear. I did however go & get the bottle of shampoo stuff to have just incase!

So whoever had them in her class has told the teacher (very sensibly!)

However, near the end of last year at school dd came home with threadworms. Whoever's child passed these on didn't inform the school. But I mean, how could they? If a child has threadworms it may be a while before the parent notices it.. and chances are that their child got them from someone else at school.... how can anyone pinpoint the person who spread the threadworms?

No-one wants to send a letter in saying their child had worms or nits & maybe make them a bit of a social pariah. Should I have sent a letter in when I found them in dd? I didn't, so am as much to blame as other parents.

But I appreciated getting the letter home about the nits, as now I can keep an even better eye on dd's hair. Should I also check for threadworms every bath, or wait unti we all start itching!!

Do your schools inform you of nit/threadoworm outbreaks??

I would inform the school if DD had nits but probably not threadworms. I just encourage DD to have good handwashing techiniques. Threadworm eggs can live on surfaces to up to 2 weeks so unless the school are prepared to wash everything down during every case of threadworm then I don't see the point.

DD did have threadworms once, I must say I don't check routiney for them but maybe I should as you don't have to be symptomatic to have them.

Good handwashing before meals though is essential - it deosn't always happen but I try!

My DSs School wants to know about nits but not worms. DS1 had worms (they can't have originated from him, he must have caught them from someone else ) however I thought I was doing the right thing by phoning the School and the lady I spoke to in the office said she had never heard of such and thing and how did I know he had them ("erm, they were wiggling about in the toilet"), she insisted I took him to the Dr before she would even pass the message on to the Head Mistress. After taking him to the Dr I phoned again and got a different lady who knew what I was talking about and said that the School didn't need to know for worms.

Dd's school don't have a policy on threadworms, but they do ask us to notify them if our children have headlice. It's done in confidence, no names are passed on, and the children don't become social pariahs - headlice is so common that if the children who had them were ostracised, half the school would be social pariahs!

we get the nit notes home from time to time, but i have never heard of threadworm.

I told school when dd had threadworms but she was in nursery at the time and it was more so they could give extra supervision to her hand washing, rather than to inform other parents.

Ah OK. Thanks.

I was glad to get the letter re: headlice, but I didn't know there was a rule saying school had to be informed. Good to know though!

I understand about not informing them about threadworms too, what could they do except supervise handwashing!?