health checks/screening tests at school

[thisisyesterday]

are these done as standard in all schools?

did you consent to them for your child?

well maybe, but my priority is my child. not their budget.

Of course, but they may point out that this is a waste of resources as the test has been offered to you already ni the school.

They may of course agree, but I know in my area they probably would not unless you had a very good reason.

I didn't think DD needed them done but consented anyway. Turned out she had quite bad hearing loss due to glue ear. I wouldn't have found out possibly for ages if she hadn't had the checks. TBH I work in a school and they literally take a few mins. I have not known any child become distressed by them.

I posted about the same thing a couple of weeks ago as I wasn't comfortable with it either.

Haven't completely ruled out signing it but haven't done so yet either.

I feel like mazzy, crackfox and yourself that DD is our responsibilty and it's all a bit 'Big Brother-ish'.

My DD had a sight test at @ age 3 (which came through the HV/GP)

She is due to have a hearing test in the next few weeks at school (the date was on the newsletter but no further details) - she's just joined Reception

I have heard that some authorities are doing height/weight checks too but don't know if this will happen with DD.

I'm most worried about this last bit. She has just turned 5 but is - and has always been - very tall for her age (90+ %ile on the red book graphs), but is as skinny as a rake (low 20s %ile) - she can get age 2 clothes around her waist - and weighs about 2.5 stone.

I know she eats like a horse but am worried about what they'll say about how light she is. She's on the go for 12 hours a day so very active.

Whilst I totally respect a parent's right to accept or decline any health interventions I do find the objections to school health screening rather strange - after all the school nurse (as School Health) just picks up where Health Visitors leave off. Most parents have no objections to HV input and growth/hearing screening from birth, so why the reluctance when their child goes to school?

(not being arsey, genuine question!)

Partly I guess because its not parentally supervised

I wasn't happy to sign a blanket consent for whatever - I want to be in the loop, to prepare ds for when things may happen.

And the height and weight thing is as much if not more for some national statistics being-seen-to-be-doing-something-about-childhood-obesity tactic as it is for individual benefit. I have no interest in my child being part of that.

Sight tests and dentists I am dealing with. I will consent to the hearing test.

Sidge, as it happens I do take issue with health visitors wanting to weigh my babies too!

as such we haven't seen one since my sexcond child was about 6 weeks old. thank goodness

mazzy what's wrong with gathering basic stats that provide the State with an over view of child health? I'd more than agree if it was invasive testing, but it's not. (I don't think weighing babies is a strong parallel, as that truly was invasive. DS used to screetch, so I stopped going too.) I'm equally suspicious of Big Brother tactics, but surely this is for the greater good. Assessing the scale of say a potential growth in child obesity, allows the NHS to tackle the problem by planning and providing resources. At the same time they may well pick up something about the health of your child, which even the most attentive parents can miss - there's a few examples of that on this thread alone. So how can that be a problem?

Because it's not primarily for his own benefit, and I am sceptical about its usefulness.

And for the reasons I posted earlier on.

Didn't go in for excessive babyweighing either.

Leonie I actually declined screening for DD2 too, she has a genetic disorder and is under the care of about 12583 doctors/health professionals so I saw no need for screening!

thisisyesterday I didn't get mine weighed often by the HV either. I take more stock in what I can see than what some numbers on a scale say so I do understand your perspective.

But there's nothing wrong with doing something that's not primarily for his benefit and it could well benefit him if they did find something. Okay, so it probably won't, but why not find out? I don't feel that strongly about it, was merely curious. Though fwiw, one set of parents in DS's class refused permission, and and their daughter was upset and cried as she was being left out.

it isn't about not finding out though!

i know how tall my child is, i know approximately what he weighs

he sees a dentist regularly

i was about to book him an eye test. he WILL have these things looked at, but they will be done with me there, when he is ready for them

yep
got tape measure
got scales

Leonie your poor daughter, but then you said no because you knew it would be a problem because of who she is. I'd have done the same in your shoes.
+thisis, well good for you, but a lot of parents don't do the eye checks /hearing checks and I still can't quite see why you'd turn down one at school unless like Leonie your know your child would have a problem with it.

but what a lot of people do isn't my problem smee!

i am not arguing that these tests shouldn't be done at all. i have said i understand WHY they do it.

but on a personal level i see no reason for my son to have them done