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School Nursing

Who we are

We support the health and well being of school-aged children and young people who attend state maintained schools, free schools and academy schools in Bracknell Forest, Wokingham, Reading and West Berkshire, and their families.

We also support children who are home educated and living in Bracknell Forest, Wokingham, Reading and West Berkshire.

Contacting us                                       

You can text a school nurse in total confidence, if you live in Bracknell, Wokingham, Reading or West Berkshire.

If you're aged 11-19, text 07312 263266

If you're a parent or carer, text 07312 263194

See the 'Contact us' section below for more details. 

ChatHealth doesn’t receive images or pictures. Please be aware that it is not a live chat session and we will aim to respond to all messages within 24 hours.

When dealing with our school nursing team you might meet or contact:

  • School Nurse: a registered nurse with further specialist qualification in public health at degree or masters level
  • Staff Nurse: a registered nurse with additional experience in public health, child health and development
  • Nursery Nurse: qualified in child development with training in sleep, behavioural interventions and promotion of healthy eating
  • School Health Assistant: experienced in working with children and young people in schools and in the community
  • Administrator: provide clerical support to the school nursing team

A message from your school nursing team from MarComms on Vimeo

  • Measuring the height and weight of children in Reception year and Year 6 as part of the National Childhood Measurement Programme (NCMP). After the screenings and measurements are completed, you will receive a copy of the results. If your child’s measurements fall outside the healthy weight range you will be sent a letter to your home address with further advice and information. For further information about the programme please visit the NHS website. Visit our Healthy lifestyle pages for more information on maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
  • Checking the hearing of children in Reception year (hearing screening) at schools in Bracknell and West Berkshire. Children in Reading and Wokingham schools will not routinely be screened but this will be offered if concerns are raised about their hearing in the health questionnaire.
  • Checking the sight of children in Reception year (vision screening) at schools in Bracknell Forest. For children at schools in Wokingham, Reading and West Berkshire, this check is done by orthoptist teams from the Royal Berkshire Hospital.
  • Reviewing completed health questionnaires from parent and carers for all children in Reception year.
  • Providing confidential health advice and support to children and young people of school age and their families on a range of health-related topics, including:
  • Working with other health services to get children and young people with non-complex needs or disabilities the specialist services they need.
  • Offering support and advice to families regardless of your child’s age on weight management and healthy lifestyles. For additional advice you may find the NHS healthy weight (opens in new window) and advice for parents pages (opens in new window) useful. Please also see our information on Eating, allergies and healthy lifestyle, which also contains information on supporting with fussy eating.
  • Working closely with children and young people who have been identified as needing to be safeguarded or ‘looked after’ by the local authority.
  • Keeping school staff up to date on common medical conditions such as asthma and epilepsy.
  • Where needed, we can refer a child or young person to other services such as GPs, speech and language therapy, audiology, Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), dietiticians, talking therapies, paediatricians (through their GP), children’s social care and voluntary services.
  • Playing an active role in keeping children safe in accordance with the government policy ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children (March 2015)’.
     

Your child’s personal information remains confidential. We will only share information with other health or social care professionals if it is necessary and not usually without permission. However, it may be necessary for us to do this in exceptional cases.

We are committed to providing the highest standards of care and welcome your views on our service. If you would like to comment please contact your local school nursing team.

You may find it useful to also look at other children’s services provided by Berkshire Healthcare such as Child and adolescent mental health services, or therapy services 

We do not provide the school aged immunisation programme but have close links with the Berkshire Healthcare immunisation service, which offers immunisations to all children attending a school (state and independent) in Berkshire. You can find out more about the immunisation programme on the NHS website or on our immunisation pages.

Routine height and weight measurement checks

No referral is necessary for routine height and weight measurement checks completed in reception year and year 6. A referral is required for other services such as bed wetting clinics. 

To make a referral

You can make a referral to us for yourself if you are aged 13-19, or if you are a parent or carer, school or other agency. To make a referral please visit the link for your area below, fill in the form, and the team will be in touch. If you are/your child is home schooled, please use the link for the area that you live in.

Bracknell referral form (opens in new window)

Reading referral form (opens in new window)

West Berkshire referral form (opens in new window)

Wokingham referral form (opens in new window) 

Slough, Windsor and Maidenhead

Please note, we do not cover Windsor and Maidenhead or Slough, you will need to contact these areas directly as below.

Slough 01753 373464 / 0800 7723578 publichealthnursing.4slough@nhs.net

Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead: 01628 682979 school.nursing@achievingforchildren.org.uk

Advice by text message for teens

If you’re aged 11-19 and need some advice, you can text a school nurse in total confidence, and we’ll help you. It could be that you have worries about issues such as relationships, healthy eating, drugs and alcohol, anxiety, stress, low mood, bullying, self-harm, body changes, dealing with medical conditions at school, smoking or sleep.

Text us on 07312 263 266 and we’ll text you back to chat.

ChatHealth doesn’t receive images or pictures. Please be aware that it is not a live chat session and we will aim to respond to all messages within 24 hours.

We’ll never share the information you give us, unless we are really concerned about your safety, but we’ll usually speak to you first.  We aim to reply to you within one working day and you should get an immediate message back to confirm we received your text. Texts will not be seen outside of normal working hours, 9am-4.30pm Mon-Fri (excluding bank holidays). If you need help before you hear back from us, contact a member of school staff, a trusted adult, or your GP, visit your nearest walk in centre or dial 111. 

The Health for Teens website (opens in new window) is a useful place to go to for information. The site may ask you to choose a location but if you select 'No thanks, just let me view the site' you will still be able to access all of the helpful content within the site.

Advice by text message for parents and carers

If you’re a parent or carer of a 5-19 year old and have worries about any of the issues above about your child, we’re here to support you too.

Text us on 07312 263 194

ChatHealth doesn’t receive images or pictures. Please be aware that it is not a live chat session. We aim to reply to you within one working day and you should get an immediate message back to confirm we received your text. Texts will not be seen outside of normal working hours, 9am-4.30pm Mon-Fri (excluding bank holidays).  If you need help before you hear back from us contact your GP, nearest walk in centre or dial 111. 

Local School Nursing contact details

Each local School Nursing service has a contact telephone number and email address.

Open Monday to Friday 9am-5pm (reduced cover during school holidays).

Bracknell Forest 0300 365 6000 Bracknellforest.SN@berkshire.nhs.uk

Wokingham 0118 904 7330 csnwokingham@berkshire.nhs.uk

Reading 0118 904 7320 csnreading@berkshire.nhs.uk

West Berkshire  0118 904 7325 csnwestberks@berkshire.nhs.uk 

 

Our school nursing team publish a termly newsletter containing lots of useful health advice - please contact your local school nursing team for the latest edition.

Slough, Windsor and Maidenhead

 

Please note, we do not cover Windsor and Maidenhead or Slough, you will need to contact these areas directly as below.

Slough 01753 373464 / 0800 7723578 publichealthnursing.4slough@nhs.net

Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (opens in new window): 0300 365 6523 school.nursing@achievingforchildren.org.uk