Medical

Illness

If your child is too unwell to attend school, please make sure that you notify us of their absence and the reason for this on 01603 761044 or email the office (office@freeschoolnorwich.org.uk).

Gastric illnesses such as vomiting and diarrhoea are highly contagious. Children suffering from these conditions should not return to school until at least 48 symptom-free hours have elapsed. Further information below provided by Public Health England outlines various illnesses and infections and whether you should keep your child away from school. Please seek further advice from your GP and inform the school on any suspected or diagnosed conditions.

Head Bumps

If your child should bump their head whilst at school, we will take the following action:

Where the bump is considered minor, you will receive a message sent to the main parental contact informing you that your child has sustained a bump to the head and to look in your child’s bag for the head bump form. All children sustaining a head bump will be monitored throughout the day and, should the situation deteriorate, we will notify you immediately.

Should we have any concerns regarding the injury, a member of staff will telephone the main parental contact to inform you of the injury and advise them of what steps, if any, need to be taken i.e. collect from school for observation at home.

In the case of a severe bump causing serious concern, the school will immediately call the ambulance service and inform you by telephone.

For further guidance about head injuries please follow the link below

Medication

If your child requires prescribed medication, these can be administered by our first aid team after parents have completed a consent form. The consent form can be accessed via the link below or from the school office. If possible, we ask that the timing of administering medicine is managed around the school day so that medication is administered at home by a parent or carer.

Please do not send in any form of medication unless previously discussed with the school office. We are only permitted to administer medication that has a doctor’s prescription. We cannot administer over-the-counter remedies.

Asthma

At The Free School Norwich we follow the guidance from Asthma UK that children need to learn to manage their own asthma and have easy access to their inhalers as required. If your child has asthma and requires an inhaler, then these are to be given to your child’s class teacher and will be stored in a box in their classroom (unless needed for a school trip etc). You will need to make sure that your child’s inhaler is clearly labelled, is in date and replaced regularly.

Head Lice

Unfortunately, the problem of head lice is always with us and can affect children and school staff alike! There is no provision for checking children’s heads, so we advise that you check your child’s head regularly. If you do find head lice, we ask that you inform the school so that we can alert other parents. Further guidance can be found in the link below.

Sickness & Medical Appointments

If you need to take your child out of school during the day for a medical appointment, we ask that you come to the school office, where you can sign him/her out. After a medical appointment, please bring your child to the school office when they return.

If your child is going to be absent from school because they have a medical appointment, please bring any letters or appointment cards you have been sent or given to the school office. We are aware that if you have a doctor’s appointment you may not have any documentation but please inform the office.  If we do not know why your child is not in school then their absence will be recorded as unauthorised and persistent poor attendance can lead to parents receiving a fine.

Individual Health Care Plans

If a child has individual health and medical needs that a school needs to be aware of e.g. allergies requiring an EPI-pen, or ADHD medication, then an individual health care plan will be completed incorporating advice for their GP or medical practitioner. The SENDCO is responsible for completing a health care plan so please speak to Faye Bunn if you need to discuss your child’s needs.