Our School Nursing Service provides support for a seamless transition from health visitors to school nurses. It’s led by specialist public health nurses, qualified nurses and screeners.

Who we are

Our School Nursing Service provides support for a seamless transition from health visitors to school nurses. It’s led by specialist public health nurses, qualified nurses and screeners. 

Our vision is to enable St Helen’s children, young people and families to access services quickly in order to be secure, healthy, have fun and achieve their full potential. 

What we do

Our service supports children and young people aged 5 – 19 in primary and secondary schools and home educated children, as well as their families and carers. Support is also provided to schools and alternative education providers – every school has a named school nurse. 

Our team works in partnership with schools and other professionals to keep children healthy, happy, and safe. They promote health and wellbeing, as well as offering the childhood immunisation and vaccination programme.

Our school nurse service works in in collaboration with the Local Authority, schools, GPs youth services and many other community services to support the needs of children, young people, and their families. 

The service is confidential, non-judgmental, and inclusive and treats all children and young people with dignity, respecting gender, sexual orientation, age, physical or mental health abilities, religion, culture, social background and lifestyle choices.

School nurses work across four teams and can be contacted on:

• 01744 624 313 North 0-19+ Team
• 01744 624 925 South 0-19+ Team
• 01744 624 321 Newton and Haydock 0-19+ Team

Our service offers individual, holistic care and if we are unable to meet the needs of children and young people we will try and find someone who can. Our team has a duty of care to share information safely with appropriate services if we felt children and young people were at risk. 

What we offer

• school entry health and well-being checks – reception and year 7
• vision and hearing screenings for all reception aged children
• height and weight monitoring in reception and year 6 (National Child Measurement Programme) 
• health promotion and education
• advice and support
• sign posting and referrals into other services
• safeguarding support
• promoting the welfare of children and young people
• weekly drop-ins in secondary schools
• training to staff and parents on how to manage specific health needs in school
• drop-in advice sessions both for parents and young people, including our Health Service in Schools sessions delivered in most secondary schools 
• support, advice and guidance to other professionals and parents on a variety of topics to do with health and wellbeing

Additional and targeted support includes: 

• contributing to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people
• following up of attendances at Accident and Emergency Departments
• supporting children and young people with additional health needs
• emotional health and wellbeing support
• following up school absences due to health needs
• support around Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder support
• partnership working with other organisations such as Children’s and Young Peoples Services, private and voluntary organisations
• health assessments and referrals for Looked After Children and vulnerable children
• safeguarding support for vulnerable children and young people including children and young people who have special needs and who have been excluded from mainstream education
• first level support and referrals in child and adolescent mental health issues
• targeted support for vulnerable children from our Teenage Teen and partners

Support with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

ADHD is the most common behavioural disorder in children. It usually starts at about 18 months old, but symptoms usually become noticeable between the ages of 3 and 7.

If your child has attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD), they may have lots of energy and find it difficult to concentrate. It can be hard for them to control their speech and actions.

We don’t know what causes ADHD, but experts think it runs in families. It could also be caused by an imbalance in brain chemicals.

Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) is a related condition which has similar symptoms, but there is less hyperactivity, and the main problem is difficulty concentrating.

Symptoms of ADHD include:

• feeling restless or fidgety
• talking a lot and interrupting
• becoming easily distracted
• finding it hard to concentrate
• saying or doing things without thinking

If you child experiences one or more of these symptoms, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are affected by ADHD.

If you have concerns with ADHD, please speak to your School or School Nurse on 0151 514 0219.