I am a primary school teacher. How can I minimise the spreading of germs throughout the class and also,

... how can I stop the children getting dozy after lunch?

All Essential Oils are anti-bacterial to a certain extent but tea-tree is the most effective. Unfortunately it has a herbal smell which is not attractive to everyone. This is easily masked by adding a second oil to the blend which has a pleasant pungent smell to mask the tea-tree. The oil I would add is geranium, which is calming but not a sedative.

In the afternoons I would add a third oil. My choice would be Lime as it has a stimulating effect as well as also being antiseptic. Other stimulating oils which are quite safe to use include Peppermint and Lemongrass.

In the school situation it is not appropriate to use a burner to disperse the oils. The simplest alternative is to drip the oils into a shallow dish of water somewhere warm, such as on a radiator, in a window bay or simply push tissues down the back of the radiator. A more expensive option is to purchase an electric vapouriser from Boots (Cost around £25.00). As long as you are using pure Essential Oils there is virtually no risk of a reaction to the children breathing it in. The oils are in fact considerably safer than the cleaning products used in the school environment – however to be on the safe side use a tiny amount at first and watch out for runny eyes etc.