Student Health Information

Year 7 and 10 Immunisation Program    

NSW Health offers all school students free vaccinations recommended by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). These vaccines are important and protect students through to adulthood.

If your child is in Year 7 or Year 10 this year, you now need to provide consent online for their routine school vaccinations.

In Year 7, students are offered free vaccines for diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (dTpa) and human papillomavirus (HPV). In Year 10, students are offered the meningococcal ACWY vaccine.

Vaccination will only be provided at school if consent has been received.

Further information and details on how to provide consent will be available in next week’s newsletter.

Food Allergy Awareness

At SCEGGS we are concerned about the safety and wellbeing of all our students. Many of you will know someone who is affected by anaphylaxis, a life-threatening allergic reaction. A food allergy is an immune system response to a normally harmless food protein that the body believes is harmful. When the individual eats food containing that protein, the immune system releases massive amounts of chemicals, triggering symptoms that can affect a person’s breathing, digestion, skin and/or heart. Nine foods cause 90% of food allergies. Peanuts are the leading cause of severe allergic reactions, followed by tree nuts, shellfish, fish, milk, eggs, wheat, sesame and soy.

 There are girls at SCEGGS from Kindergarten to Year 12 with mild to severe food allergies. The only way to manage a food allergy is avoidance. While the children with allergies are being taught to care for themselves at an age appropriate level, we also seek your support. To minimise the risk of exposure for these students, we request that no nuts, peanut butter or other nut products are brought to the school site or other school activities.

We also ask that you help us educate your daughter on the importance of not sharing food with others, washing hands after eating and calling out to an adult if she thinks her friend with allergies is sick. We can never totally eliminate the risk of an anaphylaxis episode, but we are all responsible for helping to lessen that risk.

Thank you for your help in protecting those around us. To learn more about anaphylaxis and food allergies, go to www.allergyfacts.org.au and www.allergy.org.au.

Student Health, Medical and Emergency Information

All parents are reminded to provide the School with accurate and relevant medical information.  When medical circumstances change, it is essential that our records reflect your daughter’s current health status. Please send through any changes to the relevant Secondary School Year Co-ordinator or to Sarah Johnstone, Deputy Head of the Primary School: Student Wellbeing in the Primary School.

Phil Rogers
Director of Administration