School Health PractitionerinSurbitoninSurbitonPUBLISHED THU 14 NOV 2024

Are you passionate about supporting children and families to achieve optimal health and wellbeing, fulfilling their potential and addressing health inequalities?

If this sounds like you, we have an exciting opportunity to work within our dynamic Your Healthcare, School Health service. The service delivers a range of activities into Royal Borough of Kingston schools and community settings, maintaining a strong focus on public health, promoting and safeguarding childrens health and wellbeing.

The successful applicant will be part of a locality team delivering interventions into schools. These will include, raising awareness of health issues by organising events in schools, delivering relationship, sex and health education, staff training, one to one intervention, group work and completing health assessments. If applicants dont already have experience and skills in these areas they will need to demonstrate enthusiasm, aptitude and transferrable skills to support development into the role.

The post holder will work as part of a wider School Health team to assess health needs, plan, deliver and evaluate evidence-based interventions, in schools and community settings, to promote health and wellbeing of school aged children, young people and their families.

The post holder will work in a locality team, led by a School Nurse Locality Lead. They will be expected to complete appropriate training and supervision to ensure they achieve and maintain competency for the role, following which, most activities will be undertaken without direct supervision.

The post holder will be supported through regular supervision. Staff are encouraged and supported to access opportunities for training and development to enhance and develop their practice in line with the commissioned service. In this years staff survey 92% of School Health staff reported that Your Healthcare invests in building their capabilities and have access to the learning and development they need to do their job well. This role could support development and application onto a future Specialist Community Practice Course.

About us

Service Delivery

To promote optimal health outcomes for children, young people and their families by:

• Contributing to the identification and protection of children at risk of abuse and act in accordance with local and national policy and guidance.
• Complete health assessments with children and their parents as delegated to the postholder when requested to do so and liaise with the registered case holder about the outcome.
• On occasion attend meetings related to safeguarded children where it has been identified by the registered professional holding the case that the postholder has specific contributions to share.
• Provide health related support and advice to children, young people and their families.
• Liaise with and refer to other agencies and professionals, to meet the health needs of children.
• Provide support to education staff on health and wellbeing needs within the school community and actively contribute to health-related policy planning with the support of the locality lead.
• Plan, deliver and evaluate health promotion activities. Activities include but are not limited to Relationship, Sex and Health Education (RSHE), parent advice clinic, pupil drop-ins, group work, whole school approaches, health assessments and one to one intervention.
• Provide training to education staff on areas of health and wellbeing where staff require continuing professional development, for example supporting children and young peoples emotional health.
• Provide a school health drop-in, offering confidential advice, support, signposting and follow up where necessary.
• Through proactive work with schools, identify students to work as Mental Health Ambassadors and provide active support to them throughout the school year, commencing this relationship by contributing to an annual mental health conference.
• Supporting schools to work towards Healthy Schools status
• Supporting schools and students to complete the bi annual health survey, completed by secondary school pupils in the borough.
• To comply with current evidence-based guidelines, Your Healthcare and relevant policies and procedures.
• Participating in use of digital technologies to support service delivery.
• Participating, as requested by the School health Lead, in Clinical Governance activities such as clinical audit and research.
• Supporting pre-registration nursing students to observe practice and learn while they are on placement with the school health team.
• To maintain competence and personal development by participation in mandatory and essential training, which are reflected in the personal development plan.

Communications and working relationships

• To maintain up to date and accurate records, ensuring confidentiality is maintained in accordance with Your Healthcare policy and the Data Protection Act.
• To participate fully in the use of information technology, collecting and entering data as required to demonstrate activity in the service.
• To build positive working relationships with schools and partner organisations.
• To organise and participate in team, organisational and partnership meetings as required.
• To participate in and contribute to the development of the School Health team service delivery.
• Working in partnership with children and their families to improve health outcomes, with an awareness of the impact of inequalities and wider determinants of health.

Decision Making

• To be able to prioritise own caseload.
• Working without direct supervision to plan, deliver and evaluate interventions, applying knowledge of evidence, guidance and policy.
• To participate fully in regular clinical and safeguarding supervision activities.
• To be able to recognise when ad hoc support and supervision from locality lead and safeguarding team is required.
• To ensure the efficient and effective use of all resources to meet the needs of children and their families.
• To apply an understanding of inequalities in health and vulnerable populations to working practice.