0-19 Sheffield Service – School Nursing and Vaccination Team

Who are school nurses?

School nurses are specialist community public health nurses (SCPHNs) who work with school-aged children and young people and their families to improve health and wellbeing outcomes and reduce inequalities and vulnerabilities. They are Nursing and Midwifery Council registered nurses or midwives who have undertaken additional training and qualifications to become SCPHNs. School nurses lead the Healthy Child Programme: 5-19 and are essential in ensuring every child has the best start in life.

School nurses are supported by mixed teams of health workers and work alongside other members of the wider children’s workforce. They are skilled, knowledgeable, experienced and – vitally – trusted by families and stakeholders.

What do they do?

In Sheffield, the service offers a range of activities and advice and signposting to improve children’s health in the following high impact areas; promoting health lifestyles, healthy weight management support, sleep difficulties, continence, supporting children and young people with developmental concerns, keeping children and young people safe and well, making transitions into new schools.

School nurses bring clinical expertise and knowledge to a wider system to improve population health and reduce health inequalities, this can happen in a number of ways:

• Promoting the health, wellbeing and protection of all children and young people in all settings throughout their school aged years.
• Identifying the health needs of individuals and communities using evidence-based assessment tools.
• Co-producing programmes with children, young people, and families.
• Planning work collaboratively in partnership with the multi-agency team to address local need and national health priorities outlined by the NHS.
• Using research and audits to deliver an evidence-based service with clear outcomes, with evaluation as an integral part of the process. (School and Public Health Nursing Association, SAPHNA, 2022).
• Working with other agencies and older children who wish to make changes to young people’s self-esteem, build personal confidence, make healthy decisions about, drugs, alcohol, smoking, relationships and sexual health.

Videos

Focus fit resources

Are vaccines safe for my child?

What is the Year 8 HPV vaccine?

Our team in schools

Primary schools

When your child starts school in Reception or if they are new to school in Year 1, your child’s school will send you a link to the Ready for School Health Questionnaire. Please complete the questionnaire. If you have concerns about your child’s growth or diet, sleep, dental health, or day or night-time wetting, you can mention this in the questionnaire and a school nurse will contact you to provide support.

Checks of height, weight, hearing, and vision take place in school for Reception-aged children by healthcare professionals from Sheffield Children’s. If your child misses this in Reception, they will have this check in Year 1. Height and weight checks are repeated in Year 6, in line with the National Childhood Measurement Programme. These checks are carried out on an opt-out basis. For more information about the process and how to opt-out, please visit the School Entry Health Screening page. 

Secondary schools

The School Nursing Service continues into secondary schools where it provides a range of services for teenagers.

We use a mixture of displays, workshops and confidential nurse led clinics to meet the health needs of young people in secondary school and further education.

This includes advice and signposting for:

• advice on smoking
• drugs
• alcohol
• sexual health and contraception
• weight issues
• emotional health and wellbeing – the Epic Friends website is a useful resource

Find your local team

The map shows the locations and contact details of our Health Visiting (yellow) and School Nursing (red) teams across Sheffield.