Head Lice

Please do make the school office aware if you discover that your child has head lice. We will then send out a letter informing that year group that a child in the year group has head lice, and that all children's heads need to be checked. This will help us to stop the spread of head lice. 

If your child has head lice, we suggest the following procedure for inspecting and treating your child hair:

Wet combing

Lice and nits can be removed by wet combing. You should try this method first.

Depending on the length and thickness of the hair to inspect a child’s head it usually takes about 10 minutes to comb short hair, and 20 to 30 minutes for long, frizzy or curly hair.

Do wet combing on days 1, 5, 9 and 13 to catch any newly hatched head lice. Check again that everyone's hair is free of lice on day 17.

1. Wash the hair as normal with ordinary shampoo.
2. Apply conditioner liberally, including the full length of long hair.
3. Lay out white tissues over which you will comb the hair
4. Comb the hair through with a normal comb first, to get rid of any knots
5. Under a bright light begin looking at the back of the head just above the neck area with a fine tooth comb ("nit comb"), starting from the roots of the hairs, comb out along the complete length of the hair. After each stroke check the comb for lice and wipe it clean. Work systematically around the whole head of hair.
6. Rinse the hair as normal.

Please remember to treat every member of the household and also wash any clothing (including coats/jackets) sheets, soft furnishings that have been used in the last two days. 

Medicated lotions and sprays

Ask a pharmacist for advice if you have tried wet combing for 17 days, but your child still has live head lice.

They may recommend using medicated lotions and sprays. These kill head lice in all types of hair, and you can buy them from pharmacies, supermarkets or online.

For more information or if the lice become persistent, please contact your doctor or local pharmacist.