School Nursing
Update: We have expanded our winter flu vaccinations
Among our many other School Nursing services (see below), our Croydon Immunisation Team provides year-round vaccinations for school children. This winter (2021/22) we are providing additional flu clinics immediately after school and at the weekend.
If your child is at school in Reception age up to Academic year 11, it is now even more convenient to help them, and others, be protected from flu this winter.
Dates and times are here: Flu vaccination clinics for school children - December 2021 to January 2022.pdf
All you need to do is contact 020 8274 6453 to arrange their appointment.
You will need to complete a consent form via this link beforehand, which also allows our Team to vaccinate during routine school visits should those happen before an appointment.
The children's flu vaccine is safe and effective. It's offered every year as a nasal spray or injectable vaccine to children to help protect them against flu. Flu can be a very unpleasant illness for children, and can lead to serious problems such as bronchitis and pneumonia. Children spread flu easily. Vaccinating them also protects others who are vulnerable to flu, such as babies and older people.
For more information about immunisations
Vacinations for children and young people - NHS Choices
Public Health England Childhood Immunisation Schedule Jan2020
Public Health England: Protecting From Child Flu Leaflet
Immunisation Team Contact Details
Email: ch-tr.immunisationteam@nhs.net
Telephone: 020 8274 6453
Operational Lead for School Nursing & Immunisation: Wilma Munzara
Who Are We?
The school health team consists of Specialist Community Public Health Nurses (SCPHN), Staff Nurses and School Nurse Assistants. The team offers services throughout the year, including school holidays
Contact Us
- Call the School Health Team on: 020 8274 6391
- Email us at: ch-tr.croydonschoolnurses@nhs.net
- Tweet us @SchoolNurseCR0
- Ask at your school’s office.
Operational Lead for School Nursing & Immunisation: Wilma Munzara
Clinical Lead for School Nursing: Julie Critcher
What Do We Do?
Health Advice
We can offer advice to children and young people, their families and school staff on a wide range of physical, emotional and sexual health topics. We can also signpost you to other services that may help.
Immunisation
The Immunisation Team provides immunisations to school-aged children according to the national schedule advised by Public Health England.
Health Assessments
Not all children and young people require a health assessment but the team are happy to see those for whom there are concerns about their health and well-being.
National Child Measurement Programme
The School Health Team run this national programme for all children in Reception and Year 6. Trained staff from the School Health Team will weigh and measure children at their school.
Vision Screening
The School Health Team go into schools to test children’s vision in Reception. You will be notified if your child requires further testing. If, at any time, you are concerned about your child’s vision, your local optician can test their vision free of charge.
Health Care Plans
Schools are required to keep a health care plan for all pupils with medical needs. The School Health Team can support the schools in developing these and offer centralised training to school staff on common medical conditions.
Health Education Programmes
We support the schools in delivering health education programmes. This may include school assemblies, classroom sessions, information stalls and school coffee mornings.
Confidentiality
We offer a confidential service however, if what you tell us raises our concern for your safety, or the safety of someone else, we will discuss with you who the information needs to be shared with.
Medical Needs Awareness Training
In response to infection control measures, we are suspending our usual training programme and offering schools individual training sessions according to their needs.
If any of your school staff need training, please contact the School Health Team (email above) and we can arrange bespoke training at your school or virtually.
Email: ch-tr.croydonschoolnurses@nhs.net
Croydon's School Nurse Texting Service
Croydon's School Nurse Texting Service
You can text the team about anything: Healthy lifestyle advice, exam stress, sexual health, body image concerns or if you feel depressed, anxious or worried about anything.
The Croydon School Health service has introduced ChatHealth, a confidential texting service for young people aged 11-19 years.
If you are worried or concerned about a health issue and need advice, text the
ChatHealth service on: 07520 615205
The number is monitored by the School Health Service, Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 4.30pm.
You will receive an automatic message from the service so that you know we have received your text and the team will respond as quickly as they can.
The automatic response says:
“Thanks for texting. A School Nurse is not here at the moment as our working hours are Monday to Friday from 08:30am to 4:30pm (excluding bank holidays). Your message will be seen during those hours after which we respond most quickly to messages that need urgent attention and we aim to respond to all messages within 24 hours, Monday to Friday. If you need help in the meantime contact your doctor, visit a NHS walk-in centre or call NHS 111. If it is an emergency, dial 999 or visit A&E. For our safety and yours we store your messages on electronic records. Records can be seen by other healthcare professionals but we all follow strict confidentiality rules and your School Nurse will explain more about this.”
You will then receive a confidentiality message at the beginning of your conversation with the nurse. This message will say:
“Before we get into any further details I thought it would be a good time to explain to about confidentiality. Unless you give permission, a school nurse will not pass on anything you say to anyone else except in extreme circumstances like if the health, safety or welfare of you or someone else is at significant risk. If we did need to tell someone about something you had told us, we would always try to speak with you first. For our safety and yours we hold information that you tell us on electronic records that can be seen by other healthcare professionals who all follow the same confidentiality rules - this can include your doctor. Records are kept for future use.”