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Health & Wellness Centre

    The Health & Wellness Centre is open Monday to Friday from 7:30 a.m.to 3:30 p.m.  During this time, Lorraine Feher, the school nurse is available to address any health concerns. Counselling services are also available through the Health and Wellness Centre.

905-668-3358 ext. 248

School Health

The primary role of the School nurse is to support student learning by acting as an advocate and liaison between the home, the school, and the medical community regarding concerns that are likely to affect a student’s ability to learn. The School nurse coordinates school health programs in the following manner:

  • Health Services: Serves as the coordinator of the health services program, provides nursing care, and advocates for health rights
  • Health Education: Provides health education to students, staff and parents
  • Healthy Environment: Identifies health and safety concerns in the school environment and promotes a nurturing school environment
  • Nutritional Services: Supports school food service programs and promotes the benefits of healthy eating patterns
  • Physical Education/Activity: Promotes healthy physical activity and sports policies/practices that promote safety
  • Counselling/Mental Health: Provides health counselling, assesses mental health needs, provides interventions and refers students to appropriate school staff or community agencies.
  • Parent/Community Involvement: Promotes parent/community participation in assuring a healthy school environment
  • Staff Wellness: Provides health education and counselling, promotes healthy activities and environment for school staff

Is Your Child Too Sick For School?

Early in the morning it is often difficult to make a decision about whether or not your child is sick enough to stay home from school.  The main reasons for keeping your child home are if she is too sick to be comfortable at school, and/or if she might spread a contagious illness to other children.  Here are some guidelines to help make the decision easier:

As a rule of thumb, a child should stay home if there is:

  • A fever over 100.4oF (38.0oC) – while you can treat the fever, and usually make the child feel better, the cause of the fever (as well as the risk of passing it to others) is still there.  A fever is usually accompanied by other symptoms such as a sore throat, vomiting, or a rash.  Children with fever should stay home until there is no fever for 24 hours. 
  • Diarrhea – it can be very embarrassing and uncomfortable for your child to have an episode while in school.  If diarrhea persists, consult your daughter’s doctor.
  • Frequent Vomiting – a single episode of vomiting, without any other symptoms such as a fever or a rash, may not be reason enough for your daughter to miss school.  However, be sure the school can reach you if symptoms occur again during the day.  If frequent vomiting occurs, consult your child’s doctor and keep the child out of school until the illness passes.
  • A frequent cough – especially if it is frequent during the day, can indicate a worsening of cold or allergy symptoms.  It may also be the sign of a secondary infection (sinusitis, pneumonia), which may require medical treatment.
  • Persistent pain (ear, stomach, etc)
  • A widespread rash
  • Pink eye – symptoms include a reddened eye with either a cloudy or yellow discharge.  Your daughter should stay home until symptoms subside and she has been on antibiotic eye drops at least 24 hours or until the doctor recommends the child return to school.

All of these illnesses can be easily spread, both in school and in the family.  Keep in mind that hand washing is the single most important thing you can do to help prevent the spread of infection.  Whenever there is doubt in your mind about sending your daughter to school contact the school nurse. 

Nut Aware Policy

Trafalgar Castle School has several students with anaphylactic allergies to peanuts and nuts. Exposure to even a tiny amount of these foods can be life-threatening. To date, avoidance is the only way to prevent anaphylaxis to foods. To help protect students with life-threatening allergies, Trafalgar Castle School has a Nut-Aware Policy in place. All nut and/or nut-derivative products, including peanuts, walnuts, cashews, almonds and all other tree nuts, are prohibited from the school premises, including the boarding residence.

The School purchases food from Aramark suppliers who comply with Trafalgar Castle’s Nut-Aware policy. All food labels are checked for peanuts/nuts upon delivery to the school. All foods served at Trafalgar Castle School are prepared in our Nut-Aware kitchen facility.

Although we have prohibited peanut and nut products in the school, Trafalgar cannot guarantee a completely allergen-free environment. Anaphylactic students are still expected to use precautions in all areas of the school.

To ensure the safety of all students, it is important to READ ALL FOOD LABELS and eliminate any peanut or nut products. Accidents happen when foods labelled "may contain" or "traces of" are brought into the school. All members of the School community have a shared responsibility in abiding by this Nut-Aware Policy.

Pandemic Updates

CLICK HERE to read previous updates.

A Healthy School Community 

Dear Parents/Guardians,

The cold and flu season is upon us and we are asking for your assistance in helping us keep our school community as healthy as possible.

Early identification of students and staff with symptoms of flu-like illness is the first key to preventing the spread of the regular flu, and of the pandemic (H1N1) flu virus. Day students with flu-like symptoms must stay at home please. If your daughter is ill, she should remain at home until she is symptom free for at least 24 hours. If your daughter has been ill for 3 days or more, we would ask that you please contact our School Nurse, Mrs. Lorraine Feher. When your daughter returns to school from being ill, please have her check in with Mrs. Feher.

Students who are at home ill, can keep up with their class work as they are able by accessing course material on our MOODLE system on-line, or their teachers via e-mail.

Your co-operation and assistance in following these strategies will help keep our school community as healthy as possible this upcoming cold and flu season. Please check our Pandemic Updates section on the School website under services/health and wellness centre on a regular basis for current information.

Regards,

Brian McClure

Principal

H1N1 Facts

H1N1 (Swine Flu). Flash Player 9 is required.H1N1 (Swine Flu). Flash Player 9 is required.

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File Description Date Uploaded
H1N1 Community Update Nov 20  ·  pdf/61kB PDF 11/23/2009
H1N1 Clinic Update - Nov. 16/09  ·  pdf/58kB PDF 11/17/2009
Ministry of Health - Oct. 29th  ·  pdf/43kB PDF 11/2/2009
Community Update Oct. 27, 2009  ·  pdf/43kB 10/30/2009
Athletics - H1N1 Information  ·  pdf/38kB PDF 10/29/2009
Boarding Parent Information Letter Oct. 28th  ·  pdf/204kB 10/28/2009
H1N1 Adjuvanted Vaccine  ·  pdf/84kB 10/28/2009
Community Update - Sept. 30  ·  pdf/46kB PDF 10/2/2009
H1N1 Parent Info Sept 2009  ·  pdf/70kB PDF 9/16/2009
Durham Region School Letter  ·  pdf/417kB PDF 9/16/2009

Immunization Information

Immunization records can be obtained from the Durham Region Health Department at (905) 666-6242 or 1-800-841-2729 ext. 6242.

Grade 10 students should update their DpT vaccines over the summer.

Please notify the Durham Region Health Department of any immunization updates.