School Public Health Update May 2019

I really wanted to say a huge thank you to all the Headteachers we met at the recent Headteacher briefings in March; it was wonderful to meet so many of you and to put faces to names. It was also a great opportunity for us to talk about the School Public Health Service and how we can work together to ensure the children and young people in Kent can achieve the best outcomes in life.

Partnership agreements

Those of you who attended the briefings will be aware that we discussed the partnership agreements between School Public Health and schools. A huge thank you for all of you who signed the partnership agreement on the day and those who have returned signed agreements to me since the event. The agreements are filled with interesting information, timelines for activities and a breakdown of what you can expect from us as a service and the reciprocal arrangement from schools. For those schools that have not had an opportunity to view, you can download the agreement below for ease of access but you can also find one on the School Public Health Service page. Please do have a look and complete page 6 and returned the scanned copy as advised.

If you have any queries or want to discuss the agreement please contact us through the SPA on 0300 123 4496. Alternatively discuss your queries with a member of the team when they are next in school. This is an excellent opportunity to agree how we can support you and your students by working together.

• Primary school partnership agreement (DOCX, 925.4 KB)
• Secondary school partnership agreement (DOCX, 805.1 KB)
• Special school partnership agreement (DOCX, 928.0 KB)

District School Health Plans

Good news - all schools can now view the District School Health Plans on the School Public Health Service page. There is a separate one for each district. This will allow you to analyse the information for your district which will be more meaningful with comparative data Kent wide.

We know every child has to ‘make the best of their potential, and grow up healthy’ (Article 6, United Nations Commission on the Rights of the Child) but not all do. In total, 18% of children and young people in Kent live in poverty. Many children in Kent grow up healthy and attain well at school, however, the difference between outcomes for children, for those from higher social groups and those from lower social groups, is increasing.

Engagement and attainment in education is a critical protective factor, which builds on the support from peers, families and communities to help mitigate such social and environmental risks to health and wellbeing. A whole school approach to health improvement in school builds on the community assets to achieve and maintain positive health and wellbeing for all. Health interventions target support for those who need additional help to address issues which may arise in Early Years; and to reduce personal and social challenges and prevent future ill health as young people enter adolescence. Health interventions in school contribute to improved educational outcomes.

Please view the District School Health Plan for your area. This is a useful document to share with parents and governors as it has the most recent data available. We will update this annually and let you know when this has been done.

Business as usual

We continue to offer the Lancaster questionnaire to parents of Reception children, to Year 6 pupils, Year 10 pupils and targeted in Year 12 (it will be offered to all Year 12 pupils next year). As mentioned in previous bulletins, The Lancaster Model (TLM) is offered through completion of a health, wellbeing, lifestyle and behaviour screening questionnaire which finds out if children have any unmet health needs; are concerned about aspects of their lifestyle or behaviour which is impacting on their physical, emotional, mental health and wellbeing; or if they are a young carer needing additional support.

The survey helps your local NHS School Public Health team to gain a ‘snapshot’ of the health profiles of children in your school. Every school has the opportunity to take part and all schools will receive a unique report which can help you develop and improve health and wellbeing through the whole school approach to plan your PSHE sessions, or get extra support from the NHS School Public Health team.

For more information please visit The Lancaster Model website

If you would like to take part, please contact our team in the Single Point of Access on 0300 123 4496 who will arrange for a member of the School Public Health team to contact you.

NCMP

Children in Year R or Year 6 who were absent at the first weighing and measuring session will be offered a catch up when the team are on site carrying out the vision and hearing screen. Thank you for your support to date as we have reached our target of 95% for both cohorts which is amazing.

Screening

Hearing and vision screening continues in the South East of the county and commenced on 23 April 2019 in the North, West and Swale. Schools are currently being contacted to book dates from now until the end of term. Our Schedule Coordinators will be in touch and will provide you with the relevant paperwork to share with parent and carers.

Assurance

We can offer assurance that all School Public Health staff carrying out the NCMP, screening, drop ins, clinics or immunisation programmes have the relevant DBS clearance and therefore, by wearing the KCHFT photo ID badge, will not need to provide additional confirmation when on site in schools.

ChatHealth

At the recent Headteacher briefings we discussed our confidential texting service for young people aged 11 to 19. Many of our colleagues were not aware that we offer ChatHealth but were very interested and were happy to promote this in school. The idea being that the young person can have direct contact with a member of the School Public Health Team by text with the offer of face to face support if needed around a range of public health topics. Please do ensure students are aware of this aspect of the service which is open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm (excluding bank holidays). The number is 07520 618850.

Parent open evenings

We know this is the time of year when you are planning transition events for entry into Reception class and for Year 6 transferring to Secondary school in September. Please do invite us to the sessions so that we can work in partnership and support children, young people and parents in a smooth transition to ‘big school’ or to Year 7 in the senior schools.

Contact Details

The School Public Health Service would like to thank our partners in education for their continued support to our service delivery this term to ensure the children and young people in Kent in mainstream education have access to the school public health offer.

If you have concerns about a child’s health, wellbeing or development, please do not hesitate to contact our team on the details below:

Telephone: 0300 123 44 96
Email: nem-tr.kentchildrenandyoungpeoplehealthservices@nhs.net
Website: Kent Youth Health website is available to all young people for advice, information and access to support.