Health advice from trusted sources
The health of our whole community is very important, and is central to our vision and values. We do what we can to support the health of our staff and above all of the children across our nursery and school, and we work closely with the Public Health School Nursing team in Hertfordshire. This page has links to places where you may find useful help and advice.
If you know of any resources you think we should be including on this page, do let us know!
You can also find links to further sources of help and advice on a wide range of issues and challenges on our advice & support page, and we also have a dedicated wellbeing page: do have a look and see if there’s something there to help you with any worries or concerns.
Medication for children in school
Children can attend school if they are taking medicines. However, we can only give children medicine if a form has been filled in which is available from the office or can be downloaded here (you can also complete the form online using Arbor).
You can also read our Drugs and Medication Policy which outlines our approach to the administration of medication to pupils in school, and to age-appropriate education about the use and misuse of drugs in contemporary culture and society.
It’s a statutory requirement for state schools to have in place a Drugs Education programme. In primary schools, pupils have opportunities to learn about keeping themselves healthy and safe through PSHE and Science programmes. This policy reflects DfE guidance on drugs; it also accords with advice in the Healthy Schools Programme, guidance from the LA, and guidance from the local Drug Action team.
Is my child too ill for school?
Mostly it’s very clear to parents when a child isn’t fit to go to school. But sometimes it’s harder to make that call, and often it’s not easy to judge when it’s right for a sick child to return.
If you’re not sure what to do for best, please call us. We have plenty of experience and information we can share with you. You can also look online. The NHS has a very helpful guide you can read using one of the links below.
Advice from a medical professional is really important if your child has an infectious illness (like measles, rubella, chicken pox, mumps, vomiting, diarrhoea, or impetigo, for example). Check with your family doctor, or use the first link below. to open or download a PDF file with advice about infection control and guidance on how long to keep children away from school or nursery if they have various illnesses or infections. Children with rashes should be considered infectious and assessed by their doctor.
Remember NHS 111 can help if you have an urgent medical problem and you’re not sure what to do.
Please contact the Public Health Agency Health Protection Duty Room (Duty Room) on 0300 555 0119 or visit their web site if you would like any further advice or information, including the latest guidance.
Whatever you decide to do, please keep us up to date!
Discover the School Nursing Service
The school nursing service is part of the Hertfordshire Family Centre service. The service brings children’s centres, health visiting and school nursing together to provide a more joined up service for children, young people and their families.
When your child starts school at the age of five, care is transferred from the health visiting service to the school nursing service.
The team delivering the service comprises:
- School nurses: are specialist community public health nurses who are highly qualified nurses with an additional degree in public health, which specifically relates to the health needs of the school aged population.
- Community nurses: are registered nurses with a variety of experiences from different complimentary areas to school nursing.
- School nurse assistants: have experience and specific training to work with children and young people.
- Children’s wellbeing practitioners (CWPs): are trained to deliver manual guided self-help for anxiety, behavioural difficulties and low mood. Children’s wellbeing practitioners work with the parents of children in primary school and directly with young people in secondary school.
Wherever you live in Hertfordshire, you can contact your school nurse via the Hertfordshire Family Centre Service on 0300 123 7572. At Bayford our school nurses are based at Bowling Road Health Centre, Ware, SG12 7EF. You can find out more by following these links to the various platforms the service uses.
Hertfordshire Family Centres
There’s more to the Hertfordshire Family Centre Service than school nurses, and they can help you in many ways.
The Family Centre Service is made up of 3 different teams, all here to help you and your family:
- The Family Support Service – from pregnancy to 11 years old.
- The Health Visitor team – from pregnancy to 5 years old.
- The School Nursing team – from 5 to 19 years old.
They offer the following services and more:
- help finding childcare
- antenatal classes
- support with breastfeeding
- health visiting (0-5 years)
- school nursing (5 years+)
- support with parenting and speech and language
- services for children with special needs and disabilities
- support for families experiencing domestic abuse
- opportunities for families to get involved with volunteering
Health for Kids!
Health for Kids is a website which has a more serious side aimed at adults, and for kids a side which is fun and interactive.
On the adult side you can choose local pages which cover Hertfordshire and provide news and information about local services.
The adult site also contains information to support you during a child’s primary school years. The information provided is concise, clear and easy to understand. The content is conversational and avoids the use of detailed medical terminology wherever possible. All the content has been produced by school nurses and a whole range of other health and wellbeing experts. The site operates under the NHS and the information provided is in line with NHS standards, including NICE Guidelines.
This page was last updated on 2nd November 2023