Killamarsh school asks pupils not to bring in hand sanitiser amid coronavirus fears

Worried parents have been sending their children to Killamarsh Junior School with hand santiser in a bid to combat the spread of coronavirus and other seasonal bugs.

Concerned parent Sue Wilson, whose son, Fletcher, is in year 6, says she is worried he could get ill if he cannot keep his hands clean, and if other children don’t regularly wash their hands.

She said: “Before the coronavirrus outbreak started Fletcher always took sanitiser gel to school, because sometimes other children don’t have very good hygiene.

“I’m worried about Fletcher getting ill – not necessarily from coronavirus, but he’s already had time off school with bugs. If other children don’t wash their hands properly they can spread.

“As far as I know, no other schools have stopped pupils taking sanitiser gel in.”

However, the school say they are following government advice, which is to wash hands regularly with soap and water.

Stuart Turner, headteacher at Killamarsh Junior School said: “We have asked our parents not to send hand sanitiser into school as the advice from the Department for Education is that children wash their hands for 20 seconds with soap and hot water regularly.

“We are making sure that our pupils do regularly wash their hands and our staff are not using hand sanitiser since we asked children to do the same.”

The school has no suspected cases of coronavirus, and three cases have been confirmed in Sheffield.