In an attempt to maintain a healthy environment for all children in attendance at Enquiring Minds Montessori Casa, we strictly adhere to the following policy relating to illness.

 

When your child becomes ill while at school:

While at school, if a child exhibits signs of illness (fever, diarrhea, vomiting, or other symptoms of illness) parents will be called. The child must be picked up immediately and may return to school only after the child is free of symptoms for 24 hours. If your child becomes ill at school, our staff will attend to your child’s needs and be made comfortable until parent(s) arrive. Should the parents be unavailable or unreachable by phone, alternate authorized individuals from the EMERGENCY CONTACT list will be contacted for pickup. Alternate back up caregivers for working parents/guardians are strongly recommended.

Should your child require immediate medical attention:

While at school, should your child require immediate medical attention, medical attention and treatment will be provided with Parental Authorization on file.

Should your child require medication while onsite at school:

While at school, should your child require medication, medication will be administered as long as the Parent/Guardian submits a Medication Administration Authorization Form, along with the medication. Enquiring Minds Montessori will not administer over the counter medication.

Communicable Diseases:

The Public Health Act requires that children do not attend school when suffering from any communicable disease. In accordance with recommendations from Toronto Public Health Guidelines for Common Communicable Diseases Day Nurseries Resource – Day Nurseries (last updated March 2012), the recommended period of exclusion for some common diseases is as follows:

Communicable Disease Exclude? Minimum Period of Exclusion
CHICKEN POX     No Infectious period is 1-2 days before rash develops. Not infectious once rash appears.
RED MEASLES     Yes Infectious period is 3-5 days before onset of rash until 4 days after rash develops.
Exclude child until 4 days after rash develops.
GERMAN MEASLES     Yes Infectious period is 7 days before to 7 days after rash develops.
Exclude child for 7 days after onset of rash.
STREP THROAT     Yes Infectious until 24 hrs after antibiotic is administered. In untreated cases 10-21 days.
LICE     No Infectious while lice are present. Must be treated with appropriate shampoo and return to school after all lice/nits are removed.
PINK EYE     Yes Infectious until 24 hours after antibiotic is administered. Exclude child until 24 hours after antibiotic is administered.
FIFTH DISEASE     No Infectious several days before appearance of rash. Not infectious once rash appears.
HAND, FOOT & MOUTH     No Infectious for duration of illness and for up to several weeks after onset of illness.
If child feels well enough to participate they may attend school.

Parents/guardians are reminded that the above chart is a guideline which reflects infectious periods only. In some cases, even if your child is not required to be excluded from school, Enquiring Minds Montessori will contact parents if their child exhibits discomfort or any symptoms of illness. We expect all parents to play their part to curb epidemics by not sending their child to school when they are sick and picking them up promptly when contacted.

Please note that in the event of Communicable Disease outbreak, the school will report the outbreak as a Serious Occurrence.

For more detailed information on communicable diseases, please refer to the Toronto Public Health website at:

www.toronto.ca/health/daynursery/guidelines