Senior School Nurse (AfC equivalent Band 6)

NHS; London; On-site; GBP 44,000 - 48,000; Full time

Job summary

The NHS is seeking a Senior School Nurse to join the School Health Team in Newham. You will work with children and young people, address health inequalities, and promote health services in the community. This role offers opportunities for leadership and professional development in a diverse borough focused on improving health outcomes.

Benefits

Generous local government annual leave

Membership of the Local Government Pension Scheme

Support for advanced clinical training

Access to smart technology for modern working

Qualifications

• Significant post-registration experience with children, young people, and families.
• Working knowledge of safeguarding and multi-agency collaboration.
• Ability to teach and assess junior staff.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement health assessments and care plans for children.
• Mentor pre-registration and SCPHN postgraduate students.
• Participate in safeguarding and multi-agency case conferences.

Skills

Clinical leadership

Communication

Interpersonal skills

Report-writing

Knowledge of public health issues

Teaching and assessment

IT competence

Commitment to equality

Education

Registered Nurse (NMC Registered)

Specialist Community Public Health Nurse (School Nursing)

Postgraduate qualification

Job description

Senior School Nurse (AfC equivalent Band 6)

• Working with children, young people, and their families in schools and the community?
• Supporting children and young people with their health needs?
• Helping vulnerable families and reducing health inequalities?
• Developing your leadership and management skills while mentoring junior staff?

If yes, we would love to hear from you!

About the Role:

We are seeking an enthusiastic and innovative Senior School Nurse (SCPHN Qualified) to join our dynamic School Health Team. This exciting role is based at Newham Dockside, with work across the borough. You will be part of a multidisciplinary team of school health professionals, addressing the health needs of children, young people, and their families in line with the Healthy Child Programme (519 years).

You will proactively work to reduce the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and health inequalities, delivering high-quality, evidence-based care and leading service innovation.

Main duties of the job

• Deliver holistic health assessments and care plans for children and young people.
• Develop and maintain multi-agency partnerships at school and borough levels.
• Mentor and support the development of pre-registration and SCPHN postgraduate students.
• Lead service delivery initiatives, including drop-in sessions and allocation meetings.
• Promote and increase the visibility of school health services in local communities.
• Participate in safeguarding processes, multi-agency case conferences, and Early Help strategies.
• Support training programmes for schools regarding medical needs and public health initiatives.
• Maintain accurate electronic records using the RiO system and contribute to audit and governance activities.
• Engage with the ChatHealth text messaging service and other digital platforms to support accessibility.

About us

Why Join Us?

Newham is an incredibly diverse borough with a very young population, experiencing significant regeneration as part of the Olympic legacy. With over 86,000 children and young people living in Newham, our vision is to ensure each child has the same life chances as those in other parts of London.

Newhams 0-19 Children's Health Service underwent a CQC inspection in 2021 and was rated Good in all areas.

We recognise that delivering high-quality services to the community depends on a healthy, motivated workforce. Therefore, we are proud to offer:

Genuine Management Support

• Strong leadership and supportive management teams
• A commitment to our HEART values and behaviours (Honesty, Equality, Ambition, Respect, Together)

Money Matters

• Flexible starting salary within the allocated grade for the right candidates
• Generous local government annual leave allowance
• Membership of the Local Government Pension Scheme
• Continued access to the NHS Pension Scheme (NHSPS) for health professionals who meet eligibility criteria
• Recognition of previous NHS continuous service

Learning & Development

• Support for advanced clinical training and a comprehensive workforce development package
• Clear competency frameworks and career progression pathways
• Access to smart technology to support modern working practices

Job responsibilities

To develop, implement and evaluate a comprehensive school health service that is aimed to continuously improve standards of health and social care for the school aged population; and the facilitation of collaborative and multi-professional working across professional and organisational boundaries in partnership with key statutory and voluntary organisations.

This will be achieved through leadership and clinical excellence for our staff and involvement, self-care and personalisation for our service users; taking into account corporate and directorate objectives within the clinical governance framework which underpins the National Service Framework and Healthy Child Programme.

Job Summary

Job description

Job responsibilities

To develop, implement and evaluate a comprehensive school health service that is aimed to continuously improve standards of health and social care for the school aged population; and the facilitation of collaborative and multi-professional working across professional and organisational boundaries in partnership with key statutory and voluntary organisations.

This will be achieved through leadership and clinical excellence for our staff and involvement, self-care and personalisation for our service users; taking into account corporate and directorate objectives within the clinical governance framework which underpins the National Service Framework and Healthy Child Programme.

Job Summary

The post holder will be professionally responsible and accountable for the assessment of health needs, planning and evaluation of the school health service delivery, for both individuals and groups within a defined school age population delegating casework to team members as required. They will work in partnership with schools, parents/carers and other agencies to achieve the best health outcomes for children and young people.

Main Duties and Responsibilities:

• Deliver holistic health assessments and care plans for children and young people.
• Develop and maintain multi-agency partnerships at school and borough levels.
• Mentor and support the development of pre-registration and SCPHN postgraduate students.
• Lead service delivery initiatives, including drop-in sessions and allocation meetings.
• Promote and increase the visibility of school health services in local communities.
• Participate in safeguarding processes, multi-agency case conferences, and Early Help strategies.
• Support training programmes for schools regarding medical needs and public health initiatives.
• Maintain accurate electronic records using the RiO system and contribute to audit and governance activities.
• Engage with the ChatHealth text messaging service and other digital platforms to support accessibility.

As the key health worker, the school nurse will promote the health and well being of the school-aged child so as to enable each child to reach his/her full potential in line with Newhams inclusive education policy. This will help to minimise effects of social, cultural and racial inequality.

The post holder will be required to develop a specialist role in areas of school nursing practice in line with service requirements and their personal development plan.

Key Tasks and Accountabilities:

Key tasks and accountabilities are intended to be a guide to the range and level of work expected of the post holder. This is not an exhaustive list of all tasks that may fall to the post holder and employees will be expected to carry out such other reasonable duties which may be required from time to time.

To undertake all responsibilities listed below:

1. Provide a service to a caseload of children as the named school nurse in appropriate settings such as school, clinic, home, youth clubs, special educational units and other educational establishments.

2. Identify and work in partnership to provide a service to vulnerable and socially excluded children who may or may not be attending school.

3. Work collaboratively within the community hubs, in

partnership with children, young people, parents / carers and other agencies, e.g. education, social services, other healthcare workers and the voluntary sector to meet the needs of children and young people.

4. Complete a targeted school entry health assessment for children entering a school in Newham. This includes the screening of vision, hearing, growth, general health and any other concerns/problems as identified.

5. Work in partnership with immunisation nurses to achieve immunisation programmes targets through liaison with parents / carers, pupils, schools and the community pharmacist in line with relevant policies.

6. Plan, deliver and evaluate health promotion activities in line with the school health curriculum, public health and locally agreed priorities.

7. Offer individual support and advice to children, young people, parents / carers, teachers and other professionals.

8. Demonstrate user involvement through surveys, meetings, focus groups etc. to plan for meeting the needs of the community.

9. Identify and devise appropriate individualised health care plan for the school aged child through continuous development, implementation and evaluation of programmes of care. Contribute to the assessment and review of special education and medical needs.

10. Identify and provide training programmes as identified through the needs of schools.

11. Adhere to local child protection procedures. Represent health at case conferences, core group meetings and other meetings as required. Monitor the health of children who have the child protection plans and those of concern. Provide accurate reports for case conferences and participate in the decision making process for child protection.

12. Attend and participate in Team Around the School (TAS) meetings in the relevant geographical area aligned to caseload.

13. Provide reports at short notice for social services initial investigations.

14. Refer children to other agencies as appropriate and document referrals in progress notes contemporaneously.

15. Use school health profiling to develop the service to meet the needs of the school age population and to influence local policies as well as developing knowledge of local services and resources.

16. Work in partnership with the specialist clinical leads to develop and agree local service provision agreements for schools.

17. Support clinical team leaders in the provision of operational duties/ responsibilities and participate in clinical and child protection supervision.

18. Provide preceptorship / mentorship to associate school nurses and preregistration and other students. Associate school nurses preceptorship programmes will include joint Child Protection Supervision, attendance at initial child protection case conferences, supervision and monitoring of school nursing procedures as appropriate. Student mentorship will comprise of planning, teaching, and assessing

19. Provide cover for sick or absent colleagues as required.

20. Keep accurate and contemporaneous records in line with policies and NMC guidelines.

21. Ensure that all records are perused and transferred out / in as per service record keeping procedure on RiO and use the Early Help record templates as required.

22. Record statistical data for input onto the ICT system to meet data entry deadlines as required by the service.

23. Provide mental health support as tier 1 practitioners to children, young people and their families to identify concerns and where necessary refer on to other services.

24. Continuous review of induction programme to new staff which reflects the trends and changes of knowledge and guidelines.

25. Contribute to quality data collection which will be used to inform users and commissioners and improve the development of an evidence-based school nursing service.

26. Participate in audit programmes for reviewing service development.

Professional Responsibilities

1. Comply with the NMC Code of Professional Conduct (Jan 2024) and ensure revalidation every three years to renew registration.

2. Seek out and make use of research findings relevant to the work of the school nursing team so as to ensure that clinical practice within the team is evidence based.

3. Participate in clinical and child protection supervision.

4. Undertake regular review of performance with line manager to agree personal and service objectives.

5. Develop practice through continued education, which will benefit development and delivery of service and meet continuing professional development (CPD) requirements. Attend mandatory and other training. Keep an electronic record of all training.

6. Report any incidents / accidents to the line manager and complete the reporting forms as appropriate

7. Undertake other duties as required that are commensurate with the aims of this post.

Person Specification

Experience

• - Significant post-registration experience working with children, young people, and families.
• - Working knowledge of safeguarding procedures and multi-agency collaboration.

Skills and Knowledge

• - Strong clinical leadership and supervisory skills.
• - Excellent communication, interpersonal, and report-writing abilities.
• - Knowledge of public health issues affecting school-aged children.
• - Ability to teach and assess students and junior staff.
• - Competence in using clinical and administrative IT systems.
• - Understanding and commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion principles.

Qualifications

• - Registered Nurse (NMC Registered)
• - Specialist Community Public Health Nurse (School Nursing)
• - Postgraduate qualification (or currently undertaking and near completion)

Other Requirements

• - Ability to travel independently within the borough.
• - A positive, resilient, and flexible attitude towards change and service improvement.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

£44,331 to £47,532 a yearinclusive of the high cost area supplement (HCAS)