Every year parents are faced with the choice of whether children who have symptoms of illness should be sent to daycare. You will find the following information helpful, and this is meant to assist you in making wise, informed decisions. 

In general, we have always stated that if your child is well enough to be in daycare, they are also well enough to go outside. There are exceptions to this, so if you feel your child should not be out for recess, you must write a note excusing them.

Anything infectious such as the flu, pink eye, a cold with more than a clear runny nose, strep throat, chicken pox, etc. is cause to keep your child home until you are sure there will be no risk to the other children (i.e. 24 hours after all symptoms are gone). This is a simple matter of being considerate of others health and well-being. If you are unsure if something is contagious, please error on the side of caution and keep your child at home. 

If your child does not seem to be their “normal self” - it would be best to keep them home to rest. A child who is not feeling well will not be able to learn effectively. 

Here are some questions and comments parents commonly voice, and our responses: 

• What if my child has a fever, continuous cough, or is vomiting during the night, but seems quite well in the morning?
  We recommend that you keep your child at home until they are fully recovered, and you are sure there will not be a recurrence of the symptoms – usually 24 hours after any sign of symptoms is sufficient.
  
  
• My child has a sore throat (or other such problems) and we are waiting on test results to see if he is contagious.
  Please wait until the test results are in before your child returns to daycare.
  
  
• My child still has a nasty cough, but the doctor has said they are not contagious.
  It may be fine for your child to return to daycare, but if the coughing is too disruptive, the staff may ask you to keep your child at home.
  
  
• After 24 hours on antibiotics my doctor says my child may return to daycare.
  It may be fine for your child to return to daycare, but if the child is coughing and is too disruptive, the staff may ask you to keep your child at home.

Our desire in clarifying these issues, is that you will feel confident that we are doing all we can to provide a healthy environment not just for your child, but for every student enrolled at the Sprouts Daycare. Therefore, if the staff feels a child has been sent to daycare in violation of these guidelines, we will have that child sent home.

Being in Saskatchewan and in a rural setting on the outskirts of Saskatoon, winter weather can be quite extreme. In case of severe weather, you will find all school closures and related announcements on the Sprouts Daycare Remind communication app.

Occasionally, Sprouts Daycare will close our doors when the weather conditions present a potential hazard to families. Unsafe road conditions due to ice buildup or poor visibility and also extreme windchills both result in an increased risk that we try our best to avoid.

Being on the outskirts of Saskatoon many times results in near whiteout conditions on Highway 41 while conditions within the shelter of the city are quite the opposite. We appreciate families trusting the judgment of our director and staff who carefully watch conditions as they develop.

When possible, we try to make the decision the night before, but many times the weather forecast can change hour by hour making this difficult.

If a decision cannot be reached the night before, we have instituted the following as our decision making process.

6:00 AM
Leadership team looks at the weather, forecast, bus system, parking lot, and Sask Highways for road conditions. Many times this will involve a staff member driving on the highway and roads around the school to arrive at the decision.

6:30 AM
Leadership team collaborates on the decision by e-mail and cell phone conferencing.

6:30 AM – 6:45 AM
Leadership team makes the call on daycare closure or not, posts the information on the Remind app.

Thank you for understanding the complexity of the decision-making process and adjusting your schedules and plans accordingly on these unpredictable days.