Dear Parents,

As many of you will already be aware, Chicken Pox is again ‘doing the rounds’ in school. Firstly, we would like to thank all those parents who have willingly supported school and the safety and welfare of our Burnside family, by following school policies and keeping children away from school while they are known to be infectious.

While chicken pox is a common childhood disease, and for the most part, poses no danger to most, we do have a number of vulnerable adults and children in school, who could be more adversely affected if they were to be infected. For this reason, it is of utmost importance that NHS and school guidelines for preventing and reducing spread are followed.

If you suspect your child has chicken pox, the advice from NHS is as follows:

Check if it is Chicken Pox

An itchy, spotty rash is the main symptom of chickenpox. It can be anywhere on the body. Chickenpox happens in 3 stages. But new spots can appear while others are becoming blisters or forming a scab.

 

Stage 1: small spots appear

The spots can:

• be anywhere on the body, including inside the mouth and around the genitals, which can be painful
• spread or stay in a small area
• be red, pink, darker or the same colour as surrounding skin, depending on your skin tone
• be harder to see on brown and black skin

 

Stage 2: the spots become blisters

The spots fill with fluid and become blisters. The blisters are very itchy and may burst.

 

Stage 3: the blisters become scabs

The spots form a scab. Some scabs are flaky while others leak fluid.

 

Other symptoms

Before or after the rash appears, you might also get:

• a high temperature
• aches and pains, and generally feeling unwell
• loss of appetite

Chickenpox is very itchy and can make children feel miserable, even if they do not have many spots. It's possible to get chickenpox more than once, but it's unusual.

It's easy to catch chickenpox - You can catch chickenpox by being in the same room as someone with it. It's also spread by touching things that have fluid from the blisters on them.

When chickenpox can be spread - You can spread chickenpox to other people from 2 days before your spots appear until they have all formed scabs – usually 5 days after the spots appeared.

 

School Policy.

Children should not return to school until

1. There are no new spots appearing
2. All spots are scabbed and DRY
3. Your child is well and showing no signs of discomfort or a temperature