Skip to main content

PROCEDURES

  1. A SAFE SCHOOL ENVIROMENT
    1. Laddsworth Primary School will implement universal precautions to effectively eliminate the risk of all blood-borne pathogens, including HIV/Aids, in the school environment.
    2. Laddsworth Primary School will have a minimum of two first-aid kits, each containing:
      1. two large and two medium pairs of disposable latex gloves;
      2. two large and two medium pairs of rubber household gloves for handling blood soaked material;
      3. absorbent material, waterproof plasters, scissors, disinfectant, cotton wool, gauze, tape, tissues, water and a resuscitation mouthpiece.
    3. Each classroom will have a pair of latex or rubber gloves as well as a basic first-aid kit.
    4. Latex or rubber gloves will be available at every sports event and will be available to the playground supervisors. A first-aid kit will be available at the swimming pool. After-care will also have a fully equipped first-aid kit and the after-care staff will be made aware of the universal precautions.
    5. First-aid kits will be stored in the school and will be easily accessible at all times.
    6. The contents of the first-aid kit will be checked on a regular basis.
    7. A fully equipped first-aid kit will be available at all school events, outings and tours and will be kept on vehicles for the transport of learners to such events.
    8. All learners, educators, sports coaches and other staff members will be given appropriate information and training on HIV transmission and the application of universal precautions. Appropriate information includes training to manage their own bleeding and injuries, instructions never to touch blood, open wounds, grazes etc but to call an educator for assistance, and to cover open wounds with waterproof plasters or dressings.
    9. Parents of learners will be informed about the universal precautions that will be adhered to at the school.
    10. Non-teaching staff will be supplied with as first-aid kit for use after hours and over weekends when they are on duty on the school premises and the office is locked.
  2. PREVENTION OF HIV TRANSMISSION DURING PLAY AND SPORT
    1. Adequate wound management, in the form of universal precautions is essential:
      1. No learner may participate in contact play, sport or swim with an open wound, sore, graze or open skin lesion:
      2. If bleeding occurs, the player will leave the field immediately and receive appropriate treatment. Only then will the player be allowed to resume playing and only as long as any open wound remains securely covered:
      3. Soiled clothes must be changed before resuming play.
      4. The area of play must be cleansed with a 1:10 solution of Jik and water and the blood washed away before play continues there.
    2. A fully equipped first-aid kit will be available at all times.
    3. Staff members acting as sports administrators, managers and coaches are responsible for ensuring the availability of a first-aid kit and should encourage sports participants to seek medical counselling where appropriate.
    4. All open wounds will be cleansed under running water.
  3. EDUCATION ON HIV/AIDS
    1. A continuing HIV/AIDS education programme will be implemented from Grade 1.
    2. Age-appropriate education on HIV/AIDS will be integrated into the life-skills programme or life orientation programme for all learners at Laddsworth Primary School. This will include the following:
      1. Providing the information on HIV/AIDS in South Africa and developing life skills for the prevention of HIV/AIDS;
      2. To foster, from an early age, basic first-aid principles, including dealing with blood;
      3. To inform the learners of the role of drugs, sexual abuse and violence in the transmission of HIV, remembering that at all times this will be age-appropriate.
      4. To encourage learners to make use of health care, counselling and support services offered by community service organisations;
      5. Teaching learners how to behave towards a person with HIV/AIDS;
      6. Providing information on appropriate prevention and avoidance measures.
    3. Education and information will be given in an accurate and scientific manner and in language and terms that are understandable.
    4. Parents of learners will be informed about all HIV/AIDS education, which is offered at the school, as well as the values, which will be imparted.
    5. Learners with HIV/AIDS will be informed that they can still live a normal life for years by taking care of their health.
    6. A list of support services offered by the community will be available to parents.
    7. Learners will be informed that people living with HIV/AIDS can live a normal life for many years. Learners, educators and non-educators who are affected by HIV/AIDS will receive counseling.
    8. Outside sources will be utilised to assist with and supplement the HIV/AIDS education offered by the school. Where applicable the school will endeavour, to the best of its ability, to ensure that the material is age-appropriate.
  4. DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITES OF LEARNERS, EDUCATORS AND PARENTS
    1. The Code of Conduct, which is adopted for the learners of the school, will make provisions regarding the unacceptability of behaviour that may create risk of HIV transmission.
    2. Ultimate responsibility for a learner's transmission rests with his/her parents. Parents are thus expected to require of their children to observe all rules aimed at preventing HIV transmission, and should be encouraged to take an active interest in acquiring any information or knowledge on HIV/Aids supplied by the school.
    3. It is recommended that a learner with HIV/AIDS and his/her parent should consult medical opinion to assess if the learner, owing to his/her condition or conduct, poses a medically recognised significant health risk to others.
    4. Should a health risk exist, the principal, the Health Advisory Committee and the chairman of the school governing body should be informed. The principal must take the necessary steps to ensure the health and safety of other learners, educators and staff members.
  5. THE SCHOOL POLICY AND THE HEALTH ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Laddsworth Primary School has developed and adopted its own policy on HIV/AIDS to give operational effect to the national  policy. The policy of the school may not deviate from the basic principles of the national policy. Within the basic national  principles, the school will take into account the needs and values of the specific school and the communities it serves. A Health Advisory Committee has been established at Laddsworth Primary School and is a sub-committee of the school governing body. The committee:

  • consists of educators, representatives of parents of learners and representatives from the medical community;
  • will advise the governing body on HIV/AIDS related matters and medically recognised health risks in connection with HIV/AIDS;
  • will be responsible for developing and reviewing a school policy on HIV/AIDS; and
  • be consulted on the provisions relating to the prevention of HIV transmission in the Code of Conduct.

PRINCIPLES

  1. NON-DISCRIMINATION AND EQUALITY
    • No learner or educator with or perceived to have HIV/AIDS may be
    • unfairly discriminated against. All learners and educators with
    • HIV/AIDS must be treated in a just, humane and life-affirming way.
    • Any special measures must be fair and justifiable in the light of
    • medical facts, school conditions and in the best interest of both the
    • person with HIV/AIDS, and other learners and educators.
  2. HIV/AIDS TESTING AND THE ADMISSION OF LEARNERS TO SCHOOLS OR THE APPOINTMENT OF EDUCATORS
    • No learner may be denied admission to or continued attendance
    • on account of his/her HIV/AIDS status or perceived status. No
    • Educator may be denied the right to teach or to be promoted on
    • account of his/her, HIV/AIDS status. The testing of learners for
    • HIV/AIDS as a prerequisite for admission to or continued
    • attendance at school is prohibited, as is the testing of educators as
    • a prerequisite for appointment or continued service.
  3. ATTENDANCE OF SCHOOLS AND INSTITUTIONS BY LEARNERS WITH HIV/AIDS
    • The need of learners with HIV/AIDS with regard to a basic
    • education must as far as is reasonably practicable be
    • accommodated within the school. Learners with HIV/AIDS are
    • expected to attend classes in accordance with statutory
    • requirements for as long as they are able to function effectively
    • and pose no medically significant risk to others at the school. If and
    • when learners with HIV/AIDS become incapacitated through
    • illness, or pose a medical significant risk to others at school, the
    • school will make academic work available to them for study at
    • home in terms of section 51 of the South African School Act, 1996.
  4. DISCLOSURE OF HIV/AIDS – RELATED INFORMATION AND CONFIDENTIALITY
    • No learner (or parent on behalf of a learner) or educator is compelled to disclose his/her HIV/AIDS status. Genuine voluntary disclosure will be welcomed. It may be in the best interest of the learner if an educator directly involved with the learner is informed either by the learner (If above the age of 14 years) or by the parent. This information is confidential and may be disclosed to a third party only with the authorised consent of the learner (If above the age of 14 years) or the parent, or by written consent of the educator, or be justified by statutory or other legal authorisation. Unauthorised disclosure of HIV/AIDS related information (could lead to legal action....)
  5. REFUSAL TO STUDY WITH OR TEACH A LEARNER WITH HIV/AIDS OR TO WORK WITH AN EDUCATOR WITH HIV/AIDS
    • Refusal will be pre-empted by providing accurate and understandable information on HIV/AIDS to all educators, learners and parents. Learners and educators who refuse to study with a learner or educator with HIV/AIDS, will be counselled. The situation will be resolved by the principal and the governing body, in accordance to the principles contained in the National Education Policy Bill (No 27 of 1996).

UNIVERSAL PRECAUTIONS

The basis for advocating the consistent application of universal precautions lies in the assumption that in situations of potential exposure to HIV, all persons are potentially infected and all blood and body fluids should be treated as such. All blood, open wounds, sores, breaks in skin, grazes and open skin lesions, as well as all body fluids and excretions, which could be stained or contaminated with blood (tears, saliva, urine, vomit, etc) should therefore be treated as potentially infectious.

Universal precautions include the following:

  • All open wounds must be covered securely with a non-porous or waterproof dressing or plaster.
  • Cleansing and washing will always be done with running water. If running water is not available, use containers to pour water over the area to be cleansed.
  • All persons attending to blood spills, open wounds, etc will wear protective latex gloves. If no gloves are available, plastic bags can be used as gloves, or the bleeding can be managed by compression with material that will absorb the blood, for example a towel.
  • If blood has contaminated a surface, the surface will be cleaned with a fresh, clean bleach solution and the person responsible for this should wear latex gloves.
  • Blood-contaminated material throughout the school will be sealed in a plastic bag and sent to an appropriate disposal firm.
  • If instruments (for example scissors) become contaminated with blood or other body fluids, they will be washed and placed in a strong bleach solution for at least one hour before drying and re-use.

REMEMBER:

  • Blood, especially in large spills such as nosebleeds will be handled with extreme caution.
  • Skin exposed accidentally to blood will be cleaned promptly with water and disinfectant.
  • All bleeding wounds, sores, etc, will be cleaned promptly with a suitable antiseptic such as:
    • hypochlorite (bleach or Milton), or
    • 2% gluteraldehyde, or
    • organic iodines, or
    • 70% alcohol (ethyl alcohol or isopropyl alcohol)
  • If skin is broken in a biting or scratching incident, the wound will be washed thoroughly with running water and disinfectant.
  • Blood splashes to the face (mucous membranes of the eyes, nose or mouth), the area will be flushed with running water for at least three (3) minutes.

THE RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITES OF PARENTS AND OF THE SCHOOL

Parents have:

  • The right to decide whether or not to disclose the HIV status of their infected child.
  • The right to expect that the educator, who has been informed of the learner's HIV status, should keep the information confidential.
  • The right to be informed about the universal precautions that will be adhered to at the school.
  • The right to be informed about all HIV/AIDS education offered at the school, the learning content and methodology to be used, as well as values that will be imparted. The responsibility to attend parent guidance sessions offered by the school. The responsibility to take up their role as sexuality educators of their children and to impart the values at home.
  • The responsibility to require their children to observe all rules aimed at preventing behaviour, which may create risk of HIV transmission.
  • The responsibility, if their child is HIV positive, to consult medical opinion to assess whether the child poses a medically recognised significant health risk to others. If such a risk is established, the Health Advisory Committee or school governing body should be informed.
  • The responsibility to make sure that the school governing body develops its own school level policy, which may not deviate from the principles of the national policy.
  • The responsibility to establish a Health Advisory Committee in so-operation with the school and community.

The school has:

  • The right to expect learners and parents to take up their responsibilities.
  • The responsibility to ensure that the national policy is adapted for the school according to the national policy in co-operation with the school governing body and the major role-players in the community.
  • The responsibility to ensure that the policy reflects the ethos and values of the specific school and its community.
  • The responsibility to establish a Health Advisory Committee in co-operation with the parents and community and to ensure that all possible community networking structures are in place to support the school.
  • The responsibility to ensure that the policy is implemented.