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ILLNESS
EXCLUSION POLICY
Keep your child home if the child:
1.
is overtired or overexcited;
2. is unable to participate in usual daily activities;
3. has nasal discharge (yellow or green);
4. has an elevated temperature;
5. has a communicable disease;
6. has a rash that may be infectious - scabies, ringworm or impetigo;
7. has infectious conjunctivitis;
8. has a sore throat;
9. has nausea, vomiting or diarrhea.
Your child may return when:
1. fever is absent for 24 hours ;
2. nausea, vomiting or diarrhea is absent for 24 hours ;
3. 24 hours have passed after start of treatment for strep infection
or infectious conjunctivitis;
4. the stage of contagion for communicable disease has passed;
5. the child under doctor's care has received permission to return;
6. the child feels well enough to participate in all activities.
RETURN DATES:
******Please notify us if your child has been exposed to:
Chicken pox - in one week or when lesions are scabbed over.
Step throat - when child has been on medication for 24 hours.
Head lice - after one treatment and checked by the school nurse.
When a child becomes ill at school:
1. Parent (or alternate person specified by parent) is notified by
phone to pick up child.
2. Sick child is cared for in Parish School Office thus protecting well
children.
Thank you for your cooperation.
DISCIPLINE
POLICY
Discipline
is not about punishment or control. The word itself comes from
the Latin word discipline, which means "teaching". At
its best, discipline is about guiding and teaching children, helping them
to make wise decisions about their behavior, and allowing them to gradually
accept responsibility for their choices and actions -- to choose or not
to choose.
Here at Saint Luke's Parish School our goal is to work toward helping
your child to feel encouraged, invite cooperation, and practice mutual
respect for each other.
The environment here is child centered. In the beginning of the school
year we establish with the children simple clear-cut limits and rules
that we need to follow to prevent problems from arising. We help the children
learn how to play cooperatively with their friends and with objects in
the school. We work very hard to keep our goals and our rules consistent.
We first try to anticipate inappropriate behavior and intercede before
an unacceptable act is committed. If this does not happen, we help the
children find words or behavior that works. Distraction and redirection
is another method that is used to help children keep control. More importantly,
praising appropriate behavior helps to reinforce positive actions.
Consequences teach children by allowing them to experience the results
of their choices. If a child has demonstrated unacceptable behavior and
does not respond to the teacher, it may be necessary for the child to
be removed from the situation. This time out gives the child time to calm
down so that he can talk about his feelings.
If a child has ongoing behavior problems and does not respond to methods
mentioned above, a conference will be requested with the parents. Another
method sometimes used is (with prior parental agreement) an observation
by the Darien School System school psychologist. If behavior continues,
alternate education may be recommended. If behavioral problems exist and
the parent refuses to seek help, withdrawal from the program is expected.
Corporal punishment is never used to discipline a child. It is against
the law and will result in the immediate dismissal of a staff person if
this would happen.
If we want to teach children to be kind, caring, respectful and responsible
people, we need to set the model for this behavior at home as well as
at school. If we talk to children and teach them to solve their problems
by using words and if we treat children with respect, we teach them to
respect themselves and other people.
TAKE
HOME RED BAG: Take home day is so special to your child, so please take
time to enjoy it with him.
Each
Thursday three and four year olds will bring home a red & white
Saint Luke's Parish School bag. Look for special notices attached
to the outside of the bag or placed inside. On the inside you will also
find some of the art experiences that your child has participated in during
their week at school. Please take time on Thursday to go through
the bag with your child so that they may share their adventures at school
with you. Ask open ended questions about their experiences. You will be
amazed at what they will have to share with you.
Friday is a special day for our four year old children. In your
take-home bag each week, you will usually find a notice telling about
what we will be celebrating on Fun Friday. Sometimes we will ask
for things to be brought from home to help make the day more special.
Please be sure to read the notice so that your child is prepared for the
day.
******The red & white bag should be returned on the next school
day that your child attends. If your child's bag is not returned
in time for the teacher to fill it, the parent will be responsible
for going to the Art Room to retrieve your children's work.*****
BIRTHDAYS
ROUTINE:
Three and four year olds who are celebrating their birthdays are given
the opportunity to light the altar candles. A blessing is then given by
the presiding clergy. Two year olds do not attend chapel . All
other agenda applies.
Each child receives a birthday crown. Special treats are provided by the
parents of the birth child at snack time.
SNACKS: Please do not send snacks that contain large quantities
of sugar. Fruits, jello, low sugar muffins are suggested. No cupcakes,
peanuts or popcorn. We are a Nut and Peanut-Free School. There are no
nuts, peanuts, peanut butter, or products/food containing peanut oil allowed
at SLPS or the SLPS playground.
TIME : Please make arrangements with your child's teacher
concerning the day on which you would like to celebrate the birthday.
If your child has his birthday in the summer, 1/2 year birthdays may be
planned.
An alternate suggestion or in addition to your child's celebration,
some parents like to donate books to our library in honor of their child's
special day.
PARTIES: If you plan a party for your child outside of the
school setting, please MAIL ALL INVITATIONS. Do not distribute them
at school. When transporting/carpooling children to such parties from
school, gifts should be kept in a bag and handed to the teacher who will
then distribute to the appropriate driver.
FROM
SHOW AND TELL TO SHARE
THREE & FOUR YEAR OLDS
Show
and tell can drive a parent and the teacher crazy. As a parent, have you
ever had one of those times when both you and your child remember that
today is show and tell just as you've buckled everyone into their car
seat. The baby is crying, it's raining and it's your day to pick up the
car pool. Shall you run back to the house and grab the first toy you see
or do you dare ask Sammy what he would like to take to school? If you
do, you will definitely be late to school. You decide to grab three items
and let him choose which one to show. This is when the teacher goes nuts.
Show and tell is scheduled for 15 minutes and all the children seem to
have brought in the contents of their entire room today. So much for the
experience story she had planned for the children to write.
We have used this little story to help you understand what "Show
and Tell" should NOT be. In fact, delete that term
"Show and Tell" from your database. As Saint Luke's Parish School,
we prefer to call this category of the curriculum "Share Time".
This is a time for children to teach children, not to show off what they
have in a toy box. Sharing time implies a learning/teaching situation
in which children gain confidence in becoming the focus of the classes'
attention, gain speaking skills and discover that they can be teachers
too.
Your child's teacher may choose to make a list of shares that will be
appropriate to the curriculum that she is teaching that week. She will
probably include some free choice days so that that favorite teddy makes
it to school too. You will receive a list and one will be posted in your
child's classroom.
SHARE DAY
Your child's teacher will let you know which day is Share Day
for his class. Plan ahead of time what your child wants to take to school.
It will make everyone's day go more smoothly. Make this a special part
of your child's pre-school experience.
DIAPER CHANGING POLICY
TWO YEAR OLDS
Although toilet training begins during the toddler years, we expect
that some two year olds will be coming to school in diapers, and we are
prepared to meet their needs. Diapers are changed if the teachers become
aware that the child has a bowel movement or the child indicates that
he/she needs a diaper change. There is a diaper changing table in the
two year old classroom with a disposable paper cover that is changed for
each child. Parents are responsible to supply the diapers. Teachers wear
disposable latex gloves. Soiled diapers are put into a plastic bag and
the bag is put in a covered diaper pail. The teacher washes her hands
and the child's if necessary at the sink in the two year old classroom.
This procedure is what the State of Connecticut requires for state licensing
of nursery schools and is designed to prevent the spread of diseases.
THREE & FOUR YEAR OLDS
The standard for three year olds is that they must be toilet
trained to attend nursery school. PLEASE DO NOT SEND YOUR CHILD
TO SCHOOL IN DIAPERS. However, among the young threes,
there may still be a child in transition. If a child has a wetting accident,
the teachers are prepared to help him change into a clean set of clothing
that each parent supplies at the beginning of the school year.
If a three year old has a bowel movement "accident", our teachers
will not change the soiled underwear. We do not have the diaper changing
table and nearby sink required by the State to carry out this task.
If the child's toilet training is not secure, a parent or other designated
person needs to be available to pick up the child. We request that the
child who has soiled is quickly picked up, and in a matter of fact, non-punishing
way communicate to the child that in nursery school children use the toilet.
CHILD ABUSE POLICY
The
National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect defines child sexual abuse
as:
"...Contacts or interactions between a child and an adult when the
child is being used for sexual stimulation of the perpetrator or another
person when the perpetrator or another person is in a position of power
or control over the victim."
Child neglect is defined as: ...a condition in which a caretaker responsible
for the child either deliberately or by extraordinary inattentiveness
permits the child to experience available present suffering and/or fails
to provide one or more of the ingredients generally deemed essential for
developing a person's physical, intellectual and emotional capacities."
This school is required by law to report any case of suspected child abuse
or neglect to the Connecticut Department of Social Services. We will do
so!
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