Children's Services
School Health Support Service
Gives advice, care and support to schools, children, young people and parents. Protects and promotes their health, to ensure that they get the most from their education.
About our service
The service aims to:
- give confidential advice, care and support to schools, children, young people and their parents.
- protect and promote the physical and emotional health of children and young people, to ensure that they get the most from their education.
Who are the services for?
The school health support service will be delivered to all children and young people and their families where the child or young person is:
- enrolled to attend a Birmingham mainstream school within the local authority boundary which is publicly funded. This includes academies, community schools, foundation schools, voluntary aided, voluntary controlled, free schools and pupil referral units, or;
- a resident of Birmingham and is out of school (home educated, excluded or in alternative provision, missing, new to city children or in the Children’s Youth Justice System).
Information for young people
School nurses treat information about children, young people and their families as confidential. We do sometimes share information with other agencies, like GPs or your child’s school, so that the young person or child can get the help they need. We would only share this information without your agreement if it were necessary to ensure a child’s safety.
If you are ever unsure if your referral is appropriate, please do not hesitate to contact your school nursing team directly.
All referrals into the service will be reviewed. If information has been omitted, or the referral is inappropriate, we will contact you to discuss this further.
Who delivers our services?
The school nursing teams are led by clinical team leaders, backed by a range of professionals.
These include school nurses (who are specialist public health nurses), staff nurses, school nurse assistants, young peoples health advisors, school nurse support workers and team administrators.
The service, covering all 10 districts of the city, is delivered by teams based at:
Services
Every year, the allocated school nurse - in collaboration with the school - will look at the health needs of the children attending the school and those of the local community. The school nurse then works with the school to agree, plan and deliver services which will help meet those profiled needs.
Birmingham School Health Support service will continue to work closely with schools around the following areas:
- medical needs, to include medical needs care plans; medical needs training for school staff and poor school attendance related to health.
- safeguarding and early help
- special educational needs and disabilities, to include holistic health assessments for this target group
- national childhood measurement programme (NCMP)
New initiatives for primary schools include:
- school readiness sessions in the summer holidays
- online weight management resources and social media support groups for families of children identified as overweight from the NCMP
- twilight medical needs sessions for school staff in a district setting
- lunchtime training sessions for medical needs for support staff
New initiatives for secondary schools will include:
- reintroduction of virtual attend anywhere drop-in sessions for children and families
- a community-based clinic for all those transitioning to secondary school
- parental contact with all young people in Year 11 who have additional health needs which require planned care from BSHSS.
- twilight medical needs sessions for school staff in a district setting
- lunchtime training sessions for medical needs for support staff.
School Readiness Programme
School readiness 'gives children the broad range of knowledge and skills that provide the right foundation for good future progress through school and life' (EYFS framework, September 2014). Birmingham School Health Support Service (BSHSS) has an important role to play in assisting parents to ensure their children are school ready.
The school readiness programme is available to primary schools that access school nursing services through BSHSS. The programme consists of a purpose-made video and supporting School Readiness Leaflet, which can be shown at “new parent” talks in schools. The video and leaflet introduce the concept of school readiness, discussing the main elements and offering practical advice as well as signposting to other online services and charities who can support. Within the leaflet there are details of how to contact BSHSS for further support if required.
The School Readiness Programme will be discussed with eligible schools during completion of the partnership agreement in the autumn term. Should a school wish to utilise the school readiness resources the links for both the video and the leaflet will be emailed to the school, for them to use at any new parent talks.