Health & Safety

Child Health

Any child who is unwell must be kept at home to prevent the illness spreading throughout the centre. The supervisor may at her discretion refuse to accept any child deemed unwell enough to attend the centre. Children with severe coughs, or colds, vomiting, diarrhoea, conjunctivitis rashes or raised temperatures cannot be brought into the centre. If symptoms develop while at the centre we will contact the parent to arrange for the immediate collection of their child.

High temperature:

A child who has had a high temperature needs to stay at home for at least 24 hours after the temperature is back to normal.

Vomiting or Diarrhoea:

Any child who has had diarrhoea or vomiting needs to stay at home until 48 hours after the last episode of vomiting or diarrhoea.

Other infectious diseases:

• Refer to the Infectious Diseases poster from the Ministry of Health for exclusion. Advice on different illnesses is displayed on the parents’ notice board/office notice board. In some cases, Doctors’ clearance may be needed before returning to the centre.

Safety

The children’s and staff safety is a top priority and is demonstrated in the centre’s policies and practices. These practises include:

• Checking the safety of sand pits, outdoor equipment and playground on a daily basis before use and to ensure safety throughout the day.
• Checking the safety of the inside environment at the beginning of the day and to ensure safety throughout the day.
• All AppleSeed staff are first aid trained and renew their first aid certificates every two years.
• Children’s awareness of personal safety; walking inside, washing hands, not throwing toys etc.
• Storage of chemicals in locked cupboards.

Medication

Please advise the staff if your child is taking any medication. Medication is to be given directly to staff on arrival and the medication chart must be filled in before we can administer the medication. All medicines should be kept in the kitchen out of reach of children. Only medication that has a prescription label stating your child’s name and dose, and is within the expiry date will be administered.

If the child is prescribed antibiotics for an illness, we insist that at least the first day of antibiotics is given while the child is kept at home.

AppleSeed staff uses non prescribed medicines such as saline washes, bepanthen (scratch cream), Arnica cream for the treatment of minor injuries. Parent permission for these non-prescribed medicines will be asked within the enrolment form.