Our Sickness policy at the Nursery has been prepared to ensure that the emotional and physical well-being of the children comes first.

The guidelines are as follows:

• Children should not attend the Nursery if they are clearly unwell or distressed through illness.
• Children prescribed antibiotics to treat an infection should remain at home for at least 24 hours to support them with their recovery returning only when they are well enough to participate in a normal nursery day. Children who are regularly being prescribed antibiotics to deal with an ongoing medical problem may be allowed to attend during the first 24 hours at the discretion of the managers.
• Parents/Carers need to make arrangements for emergency care to be available should their child become unwell during the day and leave adequate contact numbers.
• When your child has an infectious disease or another illness advice should be sought from either your GP or Health Visitor. Appropriate exclusions will apply.
• The Nursery uses: ‘The Guidelines for Infection control in Schools and Nurseries’ and NHS Direct on-line advice.
• Children who have suffered a bout of sickness and diarrhoea must not return to nursery until they are eating a reasonable diet and have been symptom free for at least 24 hours. Parents / Carers will be asked to remove children with an isolated incident of sickness and / or diarrhoea from the nursery but with the agreement of the management team may be able to return to nursery the following day when circumstances have been considered.
• Children with conjunctivitis may be excluded for a minimum of 24 hours if required at the discretion of the manager during which time they should have received adequate treatment.
• Nursery Staff are able to administer prescribed medicines, teething gels and skin creams etc, however the following conditions apply.
  
  a.The medication is clearly labelled with the child’s name on it and has not passed it’s expiry date.
  
  b.Parents sign medication consenting forms enabling staff to administer the medication.
  
  c.Nursery staff have the right to refuse to administer any medication they feel unhappy about.