School Nurses – a friend of the family

Walsall’s School Nursing Team is keen to bust myths around the service it provides and highlight the range of support it offers to borough families.

Many people believe School Nurses are there to put plasters on knees, check for head lice (nits), or look after poorly children.

While they can help with these, their focus is on providing confidential support with healthy lifestyle choices, health screening checks, and working with parents who may be concerned about their child’s emotional wellbeing.

As well as working with young people in schools, and those who are home schooled, the team also hosts a range of workshops and sessions that include:

• Understanding children’s behaviour and emotions
• Enuresis (bed wetting)
• Fussy eating
• Anger management
• Parenting groups

Amanda Street, Clinical Team Leader with Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust’s School Nursing Team, said: “There is so much more to School Nursing than many people realise – it’s a common misconception that we’re there to check for nits or administer vaccines.

“But the service we provide is vast. We offer non-judgmental help for children, their parents and carers, both at home and in school. Within school we cover exam stress, puberty issues, school readiness, hand and dental hygiene, and do a lot of 1-1 work with young people.

“For their parents and carers, we run groups on all sorts of topics – appreciating that bringing up children can be challenging, worrying and demanding. We want parents to realise they’re not on their own and our confidential support can be key to helping the whole family. We’re not here to take over, we want to be considered as a friend of the family.”

The team also offers ChatHealth, a free text-messaging service for young people, parents and carers which gives them the chance to ask a qualified Nurse for advice on a range of health care topics – completely confidentially.

• Young people can text: 07480 635 363
• Parents/carers should text: 07520 634 909

School Nurses can also support children and young people in other educational settings, and those who have left education to start work.

The service can take referrals direct from parents and carers via a Single Point of Access – they don’t need to be referred by a health professional. Contact 01922 423 349 between 9am and 5pm.