In an attempt to maintain a healthy environment for all children in attendance, we strictly adhere to the following policy relating to illness.
While at school, if a child exhibits signs of illness (fever, diahhrea, 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. If your child becomes ill at school, our staff will attend to your child’s needs and made comfortable until parent(s) arrive. Should the parents be unavailable or unreachable by phone, alternate authorized individuals from the EMERGENCY PICKUP list will be contacted for pickup.
While at school, should your child require immediate medical attention, medical attention and treatment will be provided with parental authorization on file.
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 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, Montessori Start Inc. 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