Question re school/medical forms

[Anonymous]

My child's birthday is in February, and so that's when his yearly wel-child visit is. In August, the doctor filled out the required school forms. The school as just told me tat the forms expire in February and the doctor needs to fill them out again. Is this normal? Will this new form be good until next February, or will we always have to provde forms twice a year ($$, plus annoying).

[Anonymous]

How old is your child? For babies/toddlers, their forms "expire" in less than 1 yr so that the preschool/daycare can get updated vaccination records.

[Anonymous]

He's turning 3.

[Anonymous]

PP again. Our daycare/preschool requires a new set of forms within a certain number of days after the child's birthday. I would guess yours is the same.

[Anonymous]

Thanks. Is this in addition to or instead of forms at the beginning of the school year?

[Anonymous]

Are you sure they need new forms, and not just an updated copy of the vax records?

My child's pediatrician has no problem making an extra copy of the vax record.

If you DO need new forms in Feb., then they should be good for a calendar year I should think... confirm with the school that you won't need another update in Aug.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks. Is this in addition to or instead of forms at the beginning of the school year?

Our school's "year" begins in January. So as long as you are someone who is returning, no, you don't need to complete them again. When we started in March of last year, I had to have the entire set of forms (VA school form) completed by the ped, and then had to do it all over again (complete set, not just vax update) in September for his birthday.
We did one shot off schedule from the others, so I sent in 1 updated vac record sheet on my own in between the other 2 required documents.

[Anonymous]

The form should be good until next February. Just take the forms with you for the annual check up and submit them to the school and you will be fine. My kids had winter birthdays and as they got older we shifted their annual check ups later and later to meet school requirements. One of my DCs schools required that the school physical be between May 1 and July 1. So rather than do it twice we just did the check up then.