Tuesday I had a pupil come who was coughing and sneezing all over me. He's only 7 and really not very good with such things! Then he was picking his nose while playing the piano. I gave him a tissue and said he was to blow his nose and then put the tissue in the bin - then I put the box of tissues beside him!
I've been cleaning the piano keys at the end of each session - I tend to do this anyway, but it got me thinking. I teach pupils from about 10 different schools and if anything is going around, I normally get it.

So, are you telling pupils not to come with colds/ temperatures, or would you stop teaching if you knew there was confirmed swine flu in the area?

Or do you think I'm being strung along by all the hype?

Yes! Imagine if everybody stopped working because of a fear of swine 'flu....

Colds and flu have an incubation period of about 3 days anyway, so you could theoretically go to a lesson feeling fine but still pass it on to your teacher.

I think you're right to be careful, but I wouldn't change your habits too drastically. Wait until pharmacists and doctors start wearing masks.

While the need for caution is understandable, I am very worried about the loss of income if the school I work in has to close. I would also be concerned for the students entered for exams who would miss lessons.

I think I'm more concerned for those students taking GCSE's/A Levels rather than music exams - imagine how it could affect for example, University places.

I'm of course vigilant and being a medical student we are continously told about hand washing / alcohol gel when in hospital, however I don't use alcohol gel for things outside of working such as Cambiata mentioned e.g. pedestrian crossings/pin machines and have not had a cold / virus / stomach upset for over at year at least!

^^ Good advice! I am a paediatrician so surrounded by children being unwell and I really don't think there is anything to be concerned about at the moment that should change your teaching schedule. Hand washing is absolutely the best thing to do - generally as well as in relation to the latest episode. I have been in practice for nearly 20 years now and I genuinely believe it is the low tech handwashing both at home and in the hospital that makes a difference. A colleague, who is a virologist, is similarly preoccupied with handwashing and favours water over tamiflu every time!

Hi, could you tell me what you are cleaning the keys with please? I have several young boys who have recently started and they always seem to have incredibly sticky fingers!!

As for your question...I can't really answer I as I'm still mulling it over myself - despite being rather cynical about the whole thing I do have 2 children to worry about and wouldn't wish any illness on them. If a pupil is full of cold they tend to cancel anyway...

I'd quite like to know what everyone cleans their piano keys with. I've got a pack of Dettol wipes, and carefully wipe them over - but very unsure as to whether this is suitable.

I believe in low tech handwashing with soap (surprising how many run their hands under the tap and call them washed! ) and have increased my own handwashing a bit.

The thing that really irritates me is when a child who's been off school unwell for a day arrives for a piano lesson. How is it that I'm more immune than anyone else? I see the parent's logic - child can probably survive and concentrate for half an hour whereas they would have keeled over during a whole day at school, but the germs are the same.

I'd like to know, too. I find that using wipes leaves the keys feeling a bit strange. I'd love to know what others use to remove all those little finger prints!

Absolutely! I was queuing for the loos at the theatre the other day and saw a whole stream of women all come out of a cubicle holding their handbag / jacket in one hand, rinse the fingertips of their other hand (no soap) and walk off. And that's in a public toilet.

I think it's fine if the child doesn't have something contagious, but if they do then it's a real cheek. Apart from not wanting to catch germs, parents are well aware that if we're sick we're going to lose income.

I fear this could well turn into the Obsessive Compulsives Anonymous thread...!

Try cleaning the keys with a dampened microfibre cloth. It leaves no residue and they will shine

As to the swine flu............it's so hyped that it is unbelieveable.

If people washed their hands regularly, especially after the loo, before food prep and eating, I bet you would halve infections like cold/flu and gastroenteritis.

I work in a primary school and get coughed and sneezed on all the time. It just wouldn't be pratical to expect everyone with a bit of a cold (staff included) to stay away. We'll keep providing tissues and make sure the little darlings wash their hands. As staff we've always been keen to wash our hands as we know what small children's personal hygiene habits are like.

I suspect the matter of whether we teach or not in an epidemic would be taken out of our hands. If the health authorities considered it important enough to close schools then I think we would be expected to close down private teaching as well.

I don't think there is too much hype about this epidemic. The virus is a new one and scientists don't know how it will develop or how it might mutate. If the health authotities did nothing people would complain that we were in danger. When they take steps to prevent the spread of an epidemic (in this case it seems, successfully) everyone says they have made too much fuss.

In fact, I think they may well have used this as a practice run for what they might have to do in the event of a less benign virus. Tamiflu and masks have been moved to strategic positions in France. I doubt that they will be needed - but it has probably been a useful exercise for those concerned. The whole event will have shown up the strengths and weaknesses of the measures taken.

As far as personal hygiene is concerned - hand washing, nose wiping and use of handkerchiefs etc. - I think it is about time for some reminders. I have become increasingly tough on children who arrive wilth full mouths and sticky fingers or whom I catch coming out of the toilet without washing their hands. I am tired of providing soap and tissues and intend to say so in my start of year letter.

There is no need to become paranoid about bacteria and viruses but Ido think we should be careful about cleanliness.

I find it's usually the kids who are sent to lessons because the parents don't want to have to take time off work to look after him/her even though in reality the child should be kept at home and not sent anywhere else to spread germs....... so of course child has to go to school and then to piano and splutter, cough and sneeze their way through the lesson

....with the knock-on effects of other students missing out on lessons, and possibly their own as well. When I take on new students, I always tell parents not to bring sick children to lessons. Apart from the problem of lowered concentration, I do not respond well to frequent contact with sniffly children, because of prescription medication that impairs my immune system. I am supposed (according to my consultant) to take all reasonable precautions to avoid coming into contact with cold / flu viruses. (And not earn an income, I suppose!)

Parents, however, are not very good at remembering my policy on this. Problems of immunity apart, last weekend a child turned up who had just fallen down stairs (in her own home) and hurt her neck. She was obviously in pain. Dad sent her for her piano lesson, and then took her to hospital!!!

I don't think the current situation with swine flu is any worse (at present) than other flu viruses that go around from time to time. But as another poster pointed out (sorry, I can't remember who) it may not be our choice if it really does become a pandemic.

My teacher's taking precautionary measures as she does if a pupil turns up in the ways people mentioned above - coughing and sneezing everywhere but is being more consistant about it.

ALL her teachers have been issued with an antibacterial hand wash gel and each pupil is being asked to use it before and after lessons as what she see's as a sensible precautionary measure not only for swine flu but other bugs too.

I guess it pays to be cautious but we have no confirmed cases in our area. However what would happen if a pupil DID get swine flu? I think the teacher would be "closed down" for a while like a primary school that had it.

I figure using the gel doesn't harm (except my eczema if used too often) and better safe than sorry. I do feel a lot of it IS hype though.

I do wish that people would stay at home when they're ill rather than coughing and sneezing all over the rest of us, but I think the difficulty for pupils is that as the symptoms of cold and flu can develop very quickly, this leaves them in a tricky situation with regard to cancellation policies. E.g. they might have a lesson on a Monday and develop a stinking cold over the weekend, meaning that if they cancelled, they couldn't possibly give more than a couple of days' notice and would probably be expected to pay for the lesson. That's why they turn up, probably. There have been many threads on this forum complaining about pupils cancelling at short notice and now in this thread we're saying that pupils shouldn't come if they have a cold/flu. Anyone got any suggestions for a way round this?

x Bass Clef

WHAWT??

If the school shuts during GCSEs/A levels due to Swine flu, we will get our predicted grades, and/or samples of our work (ie homeworks and mocks) will be sent to the exam boards so they can give us a grade.

x

People going to the loo and not washing their hands is just as bad.



Damn. I did well in my year 10 mocks but the year 11 mocks which count weren't as good...

I'm fairly sure that my immune system has actually improved through being constantly sneezed or coughed on - there is a tendency on the part of a particular subgroup of patients angling for a sick line to start coughing as impressively as they can as soon as they are in reach of the door to my consulting room, until they are asked to give the history of their presenting illness, when they have to stop coughing to talk... not that I'm cynical or anything. Yes, the prospect some time of a new virulent flu emerging does frighten me, as I'm properly in the firing line, and won't be able to avoid whatever comes when it does, but so far I'm not convinced that this particular episode will Be It.

As far as sticky fingers on coming to lessons go - it would be simple enough for teachers to have a policy that all pupils wash their hands on arrival, surely? Our last teacher was able to insist that everyone take their shoes off in his house, and my husband is able to ask even the likes of Trevor Pinnock to go and wash his hands before playing the harpsichords in his museum - if you instil such a habit in kids at the lessons end of the process, who knows? Maybe the musical community as a whole will start treating its instruments with similar respect . And the cost of soap and tissues - surely that can be factored into expenses and ultimately the bill for tuition?.

Yes, I claim for tissues on expenses! I buy boxes I keep separate, just for pupils, and then I can honestly say it is a legitimate expense.

For those who asked, I always clean the keys with baby wipes. I'm not sure it's good for them. But I think those flash wipes are probably a bit too harsh. The keys seem to have withstood years of this and the muck that comes off after even only a day is unbelievable! I have asked pupils to wash their hands if they are going through that stage of colouring their fingernails/ drawing on fake jewellery/ writing telephone numbers on their hands/ drawing huge love hearts on themselves (I'm sure you could all add more!), but other than that I don't usually bother.

I hate gum, too! I once put out a fierce no chewing letter after finding a quantity stuck under our sofa - (couldn't have been anyone other than waiting pupils). "Please tell your children I am not a bus station", I said, and one parent actually apologised on behalf of her child. I haven't had too many problems recently but if they come in eating a sandwich (yes, has happened) they are made to finish it and wash their hands before they go near the piano!