How can schools and pre-schools best deal with head lice infestations?
Head lice are spread by head to head contact, which is why they are particularly prevalent in primary school aged children.
Very often by the time head lice are detected on a child, they have had the infestation for days, if not weeks, so sending them home from school is not helpful.
Talking openly about head lice and educating the parents in your school is more effective than panic and blame. Almost all children will catch head lice at some time in their primary school years and educating the children and the parents is the key to minimising the problem.
Sending regular reminders to parents and encouraging them to check (and treat if necessary) their children on a regular basis, along with education on the steps they can take to minimize the chances of getting them in the first place, is a much more effective way of keeping infestations at a minimum.
Our Method For Schools
We have come up with a simple Check, Treat, Prevent method for schools to share with the parents and carers in their school. Discussing head lice and how the school deal with them, is a topic that should be broached with parents of the new ‘Reception’ intake each year. Providing parents with our Check, Treat, Prevent material will not only significantly reduce the number of cases in your school, but it means when there are cases that they are dealt with much more quickly and effectively, before the cases begin to spread from class to class.
Download our schools PDF pack, which includes our Check, Treat, Prevent info sheet, Facts of Lice sheet, our educational head lice activity sheet for the children to do at home or as part of their PSHE class as well as our fundraising Sponsored Walk and Cake Sale posters, to give you ideas on ways to raise money to provide each child in your school with a NitFree comb. Simply enter your email address and the name of your school and the pack will be ready to download below.
Things you can do to keep head lice to a minimum in your school
Educate the parents and care givers of your pupils
The most effective thing you can do to minimise head lice in your school is to educate the parents and caregivers of your pupils on the issue of head lice. Download our Check, Treat, Prevent information sheet and circulate this to all parents at the beginning of each term. Some schools also like to stick one in each class room window. Talking openly about head lice and sending regular reminders to the parents really is the biggest step you can take in reducing the number of cases in your school.
Educate the children
Taking away the stigma of head lice and allowing the children to understand more about head lice and how they spread is really beneficial when it comes to reducing the number of cases. Children can also be very good at reminding parents when they are ‘forgetting’ to do regular checks! We have put together a fun but educational worksheet for the children to do as part of a PSHE class or at home, one side has some Facts of Lice and the other side challenges the children to see what they have learnt about head lice through some fun activities. If you are unable to work this into a PSHE class it can be sent home with the children along with the Check, Treat, Prevent info sheet.
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Free comb for your school
We want to do everything we can to help schools get on top of their head lice infestations, so as well as providing our Check, Treat, Prevent material for schools to share with their parents, we are also happy to provide a complimentary Nitty Gritty NitFree Comb to your school. Which means that every school can keep a comb in their school office to show parents or even loan to a parent so they can see for themselves just how effective it is. To request a sample for your school, please click here.
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School discounts:
We also offer a great discount for schools, pre-schools and nurseries.
All our products can be purchased at wholesale price, as long as you order our minimum wholesale quantity.
Fundraising initiatives:
We have lots of schools who hold fundraising events to raise money to purchase our combs for their school. We have one school who holds a fundraising cake sale to buy enough of our combs to supply one comb to each new reception child at the beginning of each school year. We thought this was a genius idea!! After 6 years every child in their school now owns their own Nitty Gritty NitFree comb and they have pretty much eradicated head lice in their school. Which just goes to show how effective it is if all parents are on board with regular checks and combing.
Downloads
Download our schools PDF pack, which includes our Check, Treat, Prevent info sheet, Facts of Lice sheet, our educational head lice activity sheet for the children to do at home or as part of their PSHE class as well as our fundraising Sponsored Walk and Cake Sale posters, to give you ideas on ways to raise money to provide each child in your school with a NitFree comb. Simply enter your email address and the name of your school and the pack will be ready to download below.
If you are interested in placing a wholesale order for your school or would like to discuss ideas for your PTA to fundraise for the purchase please email schools@nittygritty.co.uk or call us on: 0207 229 7775
Finally, here's what one happy primary teacher had to say...
Dear Nitty Gritty mums,
I just wanted to send you a quick note to say how wonderful we have found your Nitty Gritty combs to be. I gave them to all the families at our school with full instructions and they have most definitely helped to keep the little nasties at bay. All the parents that use them are so pleased with the way they pass easily through even the longest and curliest hair without scream-making. Of course, as a parent one is more likely to make these regular checks as a prevention if your children don’t make a tremendous fuss.
On a personal note, I have used the comb on my daughter’s hair which is very long and thick, and I managed to eradicate the little horrors in one combing session, crawlers, eggs, the lot! She is asthmatic and can’t have the ghastly weed killer poisons on her at all, so I am so grateful. I even use the comb myself every week when I check my daughter.
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Yours in nit free heaven,
Debbie Frindhall, Senior Teacher at Chirton Church of England Primary School
