Hounslow School Nursing is a universal service for children aged 5-19 years old who attend a school in Hounslow, are home schooled in Hounslow, or are not in education but living in Hounslow.
The Hounslow School Nursing service has a public health role, working specifically within schools with the school age population to identify early problems which may affect the health or development of children and young people.
Each school in Hounslow has a team of school nurses with whom children, young people, parents and education staff can discuss any concerns.
In the referral section, you can find our school nursing referral form - parents, healthcare professionals, teachers and GPs can use this form to refer a child to the service.
What we offer
School nurses offer 3 levels of service to children and young people attending schools in Hounslow.
In the community there are a range of health services for children, young people, and their families. School nurses work with these services to make sure they are accessible to everybody and can provide information about these services.
School nurses lead and deliver the healthy child programme from 5 to 19 years to ensure healthy growth and development for every child and young person. This includes promoting positive physical and mental health, supporting parents, and routinely assessing the health and development of children and young people.
School nurses can support parents, children, young people and families when they need extra help. Some examples include support with physical and emotional health, medical needs in school, continence concerns, growth and development.
School nurses can provide ongoing support, as part of a range of local services working together with the family to deal with more complex issues. This may include those families who are getting additional support due to safeguarding concerns.
Additional Information
School nurses assess the health and development of children and young people as they progress through school. The universal school nursing offer includes the digital health forms. These are online health and wellbeing questionnaires that are completed at key transition periods:
- Reception (age 4 to 5 yrs old, completed by parent/carer).
- Year 7 (age 11 to 12 yrs old)
- Year 9 (age 13 to 14 yrs old)
- Year 12 (age 16 to 17 yrs old)
Digital health forms are an opportunity for parents, carers, children and young people to share any health and wellbeing concerns and request further information or support from the school nursing team on areas such as healthy eating, continence, emotional wellbeing and sleep. Public health information is also shared throughout the digital health forms and an individual health plan provided with relevant weblinks and NHS advice.
All data is treated confidentially and is anonymised before it is shared with other agencies. Data from the digital health forms enables the School Nursing Service to develop population based public health reports which are shared with schools and help to address the health and wellbeing needs of pupils in the schools and borough wide.
A letter with further information about the digital health forms is sent out to parents and carers by the school before the children and young people complete their questionnaires. The school nursing team can be contacted directly to answer any questions parents, carers or children and young people may have regarding the digital health forms.
The questionnaire is managed by Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust (LPT). We have completed a detailed data protection review of the software and LPT will not have access to the responses provided.
For more information please visit the School Nursing - Digital Health Transformation Service.
Parentline is a confidential text messaging service for parents and carers of children aged 5 to 19 years who attend a Hounslow school or live in Hounslow and are home educated or out of education. The texting service is an easy way for parent and carers of children aged 5 to 19 years to confidentially ask for help and support from the school nurse service.
- Message 07312 263 080 for confidential support and advice about your child’s health and wellbeing
ChatHealth is safe, secure and confidential text messaging service that is designed for young people aged 11 to 19 to easily and anonymously get in touch with one of our school nurses, for confidential advice and support regarding their health.
The service is manned by Specialist Community Public Health Nurses who respond to messages within 24 working hours.
Opening hours: 9am - 4.30pm
Text your school nurses on 07507 333 176
This service is not an emergency service and text messages will not be seen outside of the working day. If you need medical advice outside of these hours, we advise you to contact your doctor, visit an NHS walk-in centre or call NHS 111.
If it is an emergency, dial 999 or visit A&E.
Related information
The National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) is an important element of the government’s work programme on childhood obesity and is operated jointly by the Department of Health and Social Care, and the Department for Education.
Every year, as part of the NCMP, children in Reception and Year 6 are weighed and measured to:
- help plan and the deliver services for children
- gather population-level data to allow analysis of trends in growth patterns and obesity.
The level of childhood obesity is still high - nearly one in three children is overweight or obese by the age of 11 years.
When children are in Reception and in Year 6, parents will receive a letter through their school informing them about the NCMP.
The School Nurse teams collect the measurements of children in school and send parents and carers their child’s results with additional information and advice around healthy lifestyle choices and weight management.
School Nurses work closely with a family health organisation called BeeZee to offer free services to families living in Hounslow. Parents of children who are overweight or very overweight will be contacted after the NCMP process to discuss support available. The BeeZee team will be available to answer any queries, concerns, or comments you have about the process and what is available to you.
You can find out more about BeeZee services and the experiences of other families by visiting the Weight Management - Beezee Families - Healthy Hounslow website.
Related information
The National Child Measurement Programme - NHS
National Child Measurement Programme film
Useful websites
Getting your 5 a day (NHS website)
Reception children aged 4 to 5 years old are offered vision screening in their first year of school. You will receive a letter about the vision screening process from your child’s school. If you do not want your child to participate, you will be asked to notify our team by email.
Your child will have their vision screened during the school day by a member of the School Nursing team - you will not need to be with them. The screening will seem more like a game to the children, and nothing will touch their eyes.
Children who have already been prescribed glasses or contact lenses should wear them for the test. Results will be sent out to you in a letter following the vision screening. If your child’s results indicate that further assessment is needed, you will be advised to take your child to an optician for further testing, treatment and onwards referral if necessary.
No screening results will be given to school staff or other children and all information will be treated confidentially.
The lawful basis for processing children’s personal data for this purpose is considered to be provided by:
- GDPR Article 6(1)(e) - processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority
- GDPR Article 9(2)(h) - processing is necessary for medical diagnosis, the provision of health or social care or treatment or the management of health or social care systems
All personal information will be held on the Trust secure patient database, which has role based access to ensure only the relevant and appropriate staff have access to the data. The data will be held as part of the patient record in line with the 2016 NHS Code of Practice.
This screening test is only being offered to pupils in reception and does not substitute an eye examination by a qualified orthoptist/optometrist. The NHS provides free regular eye examinations at opticians for all children under 16.
Early help is about providing extra support at an early stage for you and your family. This helps to prevent small problems from getting worse. These could be difficulties with parenting to health to education to support for teenagers.
Many services in Hounslow offer early help including schools, children’s centres, health, and education services and more. Ask about the support available.
After asking for support, the most appropriate service/s within early help can be identified. Some of the services will need a Child & Family Assessment/Notification Safeguarding Form (CFAN) to be completed. Other services within Early Help may have their own referral form or procedure. Contact the service directly to enquire.
Parents, teachers, GPs and other healthcare staff can refer a child to the service.
Young people can self refer into the service.