About Us
Since 2018 we have supported thousands of children and families. We do this by acknowledging the challenges of raising children in the local area, creating a no blame culture, building individual autonomy and responsibility and ultimately building community capacity. This creates a culture of trust between children/ young people, parents/carers and a relationship between schools, service users and School Nurses that promotes engagement and early intervention, improved attendance and resilience.
Increased school attendance – We contact parents of children who are often absent from school and offer health advice. We arrange GP and other appointments and support families with ways of building their child’s immune systems through healthy diet, healthy sleep hygiene, management of continence issues. We support when a child has experience of bereavement, identification of barriers to school attendance and strategies to reduce these. Increased engagement with parents and young people – By becoming part of the school team, we can build the link between children/ young people and families and education. The fact schools recognise that they need us and pay for us to support their community is evidence that schools recognise their pupils need more than the statutory service can offer.
Building Community Capacity – As a familiar face in school and in the community, we are able to fill the role of trusted advisor which would historically have been filled by extended family and other community figures. Nurses are inherently trustworthy sources of knowledge.
Building Trust in Healthcare - as health professionals we have a unique relationship with children and parents that supports us to be a source of advice for them. They can trust that we are giving advice which is supported by contemporary data and research and that we will act on any issues that fall out of our scope of professional practice. In a culture where healthcare can be difficult to access, we provide a reassuring presence.
Providing Early Intervention and Accessible Services – Bringing a Nurse to families and children removes the barrier of accessing GP appointments, referrals to other services and opens lines of communication for early intervention. It increases the likelihood that service users will seek support earlier rather than waiting until issues escalate.