Parents and Guardians,

As with the start of every school year when large numbers of children have access to each other the potential for the spread of germs increases. With the concern about the N1H1 virus on everyone’s mind we want to take this time to remind our parents and their children of some common sense safeguards that they should use to help keep our risks to a minimum. The following is from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.

·         Remind your children to wash their hands often with soap and water or an alcohol-based hand rub. You can set a good example by doing this yourself.

·         Remind your children not to share personal items like drinks, food or unwashed utensils, and to cover their coughs and sneezes with tissues. Covering up their coughs or sneezes using the elbow, arm or sleeve instead of the hand when a tissue is unavailable.

·         Know the signs and symptoms of the flu. Symptoms of the flu include fever (100 degrees Fahrenheit, 37.8 degrees Celsius or greater), cough, sore throat, a runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headache, and feeling very tired. Some people may also vomit or have diarrhea.

·         Keep sick children at home for at least 24 hours after they no longer have fever or do not have signs of fever, without using fever-reducing drugs.  Keeping children with a fever at home will reduce the number of people who may get infected.

·         Do not send children to school if they are sick. Any children who are determined to be sick while at school we will contact you to come get them.

We want to encourage everyone in our Northdale family to be mindful and cautious and take the responsible steps to ensure that we do not put each other at unnecessary risk. We thank each one of you for being the responsible parents that you are.