Managing illness
Children or staff showing signs of illness or feeling unwell should stay at home.
Anyone who has been suffering from illness should only return to their school or early childhood service once they are no longer showing signs of illness.
If a child develops symptoms whilst at school, their parent or carer will be contacted and asked to collect them as soon as possible.
Standard hygiene measures
It is important that schools and early childhood services continue to implement a high level of health and hygiene measures, including:
- regular handwashing and hand sanitising in line with the
5 moments of hand hygiene, particularly before and after eating, and after going to the toilet. Watch the
instructional video (transcript) for guidance
- covering the mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing and sneezing, or coughing into the elbow, disposing of tissues in the bin and washing hands thoroughly afterwards
- ensuring sufficient soap, water and hand sanitiser stations, as well as tissues, are available
- regular cleaning of facilities, particularly high-frequency touchpoints such as door handles, light switches, desks and water fountains or bubblers
- regular cleaning of playground equipment and play materials
- display Queensland Health’s
stop the spread of germs poster (PDF, 109KB)
- open windows to promote air flow where environmental conditions, such as cold weather, allow.
Additional hygiene measures
Food handling
Food handlers, such as school tuckshop workers, must follow effective hygiene measures at all times.
In early childhood services, food handlers should practise hygiene as per NHMRC guidance in
staying healthy: preventing infectious diseases in early childhood education and care services.
Cash handling
It is strongly recommended that payments for services and activities (such as excursions, tuckshops, uniform shops or fundraisers) are made electronically.
Where it is necessary to handle cash, staff must practise good hand hygiene, including washing their hands or using hand sanitiser once the transaction has been completed.
Shared equipment at school
Standard cleaning and hygiene management is required for shared equipment, such as practical workshop resources, Industrial Technology and Design (ITD) resources, musical instruments, computer devices and accessories, as well as sports equipment used within the school, or equipment loaned to students to take home.
Health support procedures for state schools
All state schools, including special schools, must implement student health plans and ensure
student health support procedures are performed as required.
Employees must use gloves at all times when providing student health supports. Other personal protective equipment (PPE) may be required for certain health procedures.
For advice regarding the type of PPE required for a specific health support procedure, including correct use, please consult with your State School's registered nurse. More information is available on the
personal protective equipment for health support procedure fact sheet (PDF, 120KB) available in the
managing students' health support needs at school procedure.
Cleaning
State schools have high standards of well-established hygiene protocols and
cleaning of their facilities ( departmental employees only). Cleaning will prioritise frequently used areas with extra attention on high-touch point surfaces, such as door handles, light switches, desks, toilets, taps and sinks. This also includes sick rooms and student or child service areas.
The two-step precautionary clean – involving a daily normal hygienic clean using Astra (general cleaning) and Hercules (amenities), followed by sanitising (Concept), is sufficient for schools and other workplaces to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission. For more information, see the
daily hygienic cleaning in state schools fact sheet (PDF, 116KB) ( departmental employees only).
Please note the increased cleaning allocations implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic, ceased on 9 December 2022.
Ventilation and managing air quality
Effective ventilation is an important measure in minimising transmission of infection.
The department has carefully considered expert advice from health authorities, Safe Work Australia, the World Health Organisation, the Doherty Institute and other stakeholders to inform advice to schools regarding managing air quality.
Ventilation of learning spaces and other indoor settings can be provided naturally (through opening of windows and doors when safe to do so) or mechanically, via ventilation and air conditioning systems that introduce fresh air from outside. Ceiling fans can be used to increase air circulation.
Further information regarding
managing air quality is available in the health and safety section of the Education website.