Bradford School Nurse Service is a skilled workforce that is part of Bradford District Care Trust (BDCFT) Public Health Nursing Children's Service and works with schools across the Bradford and Airedale District.
Contact the team via telephone: 01274 221203 or email: PublicHealthNursingChildrensDutyTeam@bdct.onmicrosoft.com (professionals only).
The School Nurse Service aims to provide health advice and a range of services to support children and young people by providing a link between school, home, community and health services. Our role is to improve the health and wellbeing of children and young
people, relating to physical health needs and social and emotional mental wellbeing, offering more targeted support to those most vulnerable through a number of different pathways. We work alongside some of our partner agencies within BDCFT, such as The School
Immunisation Team, Speech and Language Therapy Team, Oral Health Team and Mental Health Support Team (Trailblazer) to provide care. We also work with a range of different people such as education staff, GPs, Paediatricians and other health, social and mental
health professionals.
Where needed and in agreement with a child or young person and their parents or carers (depending on their age), we can make an action plan of care which may include school, signposting to information or completing a referral.
Here is our
referral form and
guidance. *Please note that referrals should continue to be sent to admin services as per the guidance and not the email address above.
Please note, we may not be able to offer assessment or support if another health or specialist service is working with a child or young person- however, we welcome any queries via our Duty Team.
Further information about the team
Specialist Community Public Health Nurse (SCPHN) School Nurses, along with health visitors, are trained specialist community public health nurses (SCPHN) who are qualified nurses or midwives that have done further training about public health
at an advanced level.
They lead the team to ensure that services are delivered efficiently and effectively. They work with school-aged children and young people and their families to improve health and wellbeing outcomes and reduce inequalities and vulnerabilities.
School nurses lead on delivering the Healthy Child Programme: 5-19 and are essential in ensuring every child has the best start in life.
Their role is to identify health needs health, determine risk and protective factors and identify early intervention to prevent issues escalating. This work is alongside key government priorities such as reducing child health inequalities, promoting and supporting
emotional wellbeing and mental health and encouraging healthy weight.
Student Specialist Community Public Health Nurses are registered nurses or midwifes who undertake SCPHN programmes. They are sponsored by BDCFT to train and develop to become a SCPHN.They have projects to complete as part of training, which
may involve professional or service user involvement.
Staff Nurses are qualified nurses, some of whom hold additional specialist nursing qualifications. Staff nurses work alongside the school nurses and wider skill mix team to improve the health and wellbeing outcomes for children and families
in the community. They contribute to the universal service offer and integrated working through assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation. They provide excellent professional, skilled and effective person-centred, evidence-based nursing care.
Nursery Nurses have experience in education and/or the health environment with related skills and qualifications. They work in partnership with the nurses to deliver the Healthy Child Programme and facilitate a smooth transition of children
who are commencing school or in the early stages of primary school. They also deliver some health promotion activities within the community. If further support is needed for a child or family they can signpost to a nurse within the team or can sometimes refer
to other agencies for specialist help.
Family Support Workers are practioners with a high level of experience in working with children and young people. Following a successful trial with Dixons Academies in the 2021-2022 academic year, we have now employed more for the new academic
year, to form part of the wider relational and multi-disciplinary team. Their role is strengthen relationships between young people, parents/ carers, health services and schools by supporting them to navigate health systems and achieve optimum health, development
and wellbeing. The Family Support Workers will primarily be based within specific identified schools or educational establishments.
The Screening Team are professionals with childcare and/or education experience, skills and qualifications. They complete the National Childhood Measurement Programme (NCMP) screening by checking height, weight and hearing for children in
Reception (age 4-5) and height and weight for children in Year 6 (age 10-11). They can signpost you to the nurses and school nurses within the team if some health advice or support is required.
The Public Health Children's Duty Team are a mixed skilled team of 0-19 professionals including School Nurses, Health Visitors, Staff Nurses and a Nursery Nurse. They are the professionals who respond to calls, emails and Chat Health Messages
to both the School Nursing and Health Visiting Service. They also review and triage referrals into the team.
Specialist SEND Nurses offers a specialist special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) advice and support duty service. This is a small team accessible to the 0-19 Public Health Children’s Service to ensure that staff are supported
in ensuring high quality care is provided to children, young people and their families in relation to SEND. This ensures better outcomes and helps reduce health inequalities for children and young people with SEND.
Location
The School Nurse Team remains as a district-wide team. We will keep you updated on any developments via Bradford Schools Online,
Living Well Schools website or from our commissioners in Public Health.
NCMP and Hearing screening
The National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) is a nationally mandated public health programme delivered by the Screening Team. The National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) measures the height and weight of children in Reception class (aged 4 to 5)
and year 6 (aged 10 to 11), to assess overweight and obesity levels in children within primary schools. It provides the data for the child excess weight indicators in the Public Health Outcomes Framework. It is estimated that overweight and obesity-related
conditions across the UK are costing the NHS £6.1 billion each year.
Children in reception year will also have a hearing test conducted at school. The test is delivered by the Screening Team. Dependant on the result we may retest or refer to specialist service as necessary.
Schools will be contacted by our team and asked to distribute links to the new e-consent facility for parents and dates will be arranged to complete the screening in school. You can contact the team with any further queries via our advice line.
Health Promotion
We are currently offering the following health promotion sessions to all schools:
- Year 5 Puberty
- Reception and Year 1 Hand Hygiene
- Year 11 transition to adult healthcare services.
Please contact us on 01274 221203 to book a session or share ideas and evidence to support potential future offers.
Dropin Clinics
These are currently offered to all high schools for monthly sessions for pupils. Please contact the team to arrange these if your school need to arrange these. We also offer parent dropin clinics within community hubs across the district on a monthly basis.
We may be able to offer coffee mornings within schools for parents and carers- please contact the team to discuss this.
Chat Health
Is a confidential texting service that is available to all young people living or educated in the Bradford and Airedale district. This will be offered by the team Monday to Friday all year round (excluding bank holidays) 9-4.30pm. We encourage all schools
to advertise this, particularly in places such as toilet cubicles.
School Events
We are keen to be a part of school events, such as parents evenings and transition days! Your school may also have other events planned where you think it would be useful to have a member of the team present. Please contact the team to discuss this further.
Note that reasonable notice will be required for us to attend any events.
BDCFT Children's Services Partners.
We work alongside the following services to provide a public health service to children, young people and families. Please see their contact details below:
- Health Visiting Team (0-5): 01274 221 223
- Vulnerable Children's School Nurse Safeguarding Team: 01274 221203
- Children in Care/ Care Leavers and Youth Justice Team: 01274 221002 or by emailing
cic@bdct.nhs.uk
- Special Needs School Nursing and Learning Disabilities Team: 01274 251440
- Oral Health Improvement Team: Oral Health Improvement - Bradford and Airedale - BDCT
- School Immunisation Team: 01274 221269
- Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS): Fieldhead in Bradford- 01274 723 241/ Hillbrook in Keighley- 01525 661 531
- Mental Health Support Team (MHST): Mental Health Support team - BDCT
Please visit our
website and encourage your pupils as well as parents/ carers and colleagues to follow us on
Facebook and
Instagram!
