School's nit alert via text message
Parents at a Northampton school have been using digital technology in the fight against head lice.
Parents of children at Wootton Primary School have been taking part in a pilot scheme organised by lice treatment company Hedrin.
The school sent out questionnaires to parents where they filled in their mobile phone numbers and now any time a pupil is found to have lice, all the parents are sent a text urging them to check their child's head.
The scheme, called Once a Week, Take a Peek, has even earned the school a tidy 2,000 gift from Hedrin as thanks for running the pilot.
Gill Nightingale, the school's administration manager, worked with Hedrin to get the scheme up and running and said the number of infestations had definitely fallen.
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She said: "It's not that it's a special problem to this school, it's a community-wide problem which affects everyone.
"We haven't had nit nurses for years. They used to be in all the schools but they got phased out so there wasn't very much in place to target the problem."
But she added nits were perfectly normal and common in schools.
She said: "What we always did before was, if there were nits found, a letter would go home to parents warning them to look out.
"But with text messages it is a lot quicker and it has been very successful.
"The new scheme is a bit gimmicky I suppose, which helps parents to remember to check. Plus they all got a free voucher for Hedrin treatments so it hasn't cost them anything.
"The parents are really pleased. I got a bunch of flowers from one parent this morning."
To find out more about the scheme, log on to the website www.onceaweektakeapeek.com.
alex.valk@northantsnews.co.uk
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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