Good health has a positive impact on a child or young person’s enjoyment both at school and home. Ill health can often be a barrier to attendance and learning at school. A number of pupils at Grove Park present with complex health needs which need daily management to enable them to participate in daily school life.
At our school we support our pupils in a number of ways.
Universal School Nurse Service
The school nursing service can act as an effective bridge between education, health services and social care, supporting
work on health issues in school and making health services more accessible to pupils, parents, carers and school staff.
The community heath team can provide specific training for staff on a number of procedures and these include, Gastrostomy training, jejunostomy training, epilepsy, catheterising, and diabetes. Should a pupil join the school with a specific health diagnosis which requires a specific protocol, training will be arranged for staff.
Grove Park School Nurse
Grove Park has jointly commissioned with East Sussex, a full time school Nurse. Debbie Marsden is a highly skilled and experienced nurse who has expertise in supporting pupils with complex health needs in a special school setting. Debbie is a key member of the school staff team and her key tasks include;
Clinics
We hold Paediatric Consultant Clinics at the school a minimum of three times per year. The majority of pupils attending Grove Park are registered with Dr Somarib and these clinics are for the convenience of all concerned and this helps to ensure that there is a free flow of information across the Health and Education disciplines. Attendance at these clinics are often supported by the school nurse, and where a pupil has an epilepsy diagnosis, the epilepsy specialist nurse will also attend in order to review any epilepsy care plan.
Medication
When a child’s doctor has prescribed a certain course of medication, and this medication needs to be administered during the school day, the following rules must be observed:
If a child is on a long-term course of medication at home, it is useful to the school to be kept informed of this, even if daytime dosages are not required.
Many of our pupils do have medication for epilepsy with regular lunch time doses which school staff are prepared to administer. We also have training for administration of Buccal Madazolam when necessary. There are other medical procedures that we are able to co-operate with, given the relevant training, so if you have any concerns, please do ask us.
If you have any questions regarding medication at school, please contact Debbie Marsden, our school nurse for further information.
Accident or Illness at School
If any accident should befall a child at school, suitable First Aid will be given by the school’s qualified First Aiders. Should it be necessary to contact a parent/carer, (either because the child is too ill to stay in school, or further treatment is necessary), every attempt will be made to do so, but the school reserves the right to call the emergency services if contact cannot be made. New parents/carers are asked to complete a form giving daytime telephone numbers for such emergencies and these are regularly updated.
In the case of sickness or diarrhoea, parents/carers are asked not to send their child back to school until they have been “clear” for 48 hours.
Absence from School
If your child is away from school due to illness or for any other reason, please let us know as soon as possible before the start of the first school day of absence and not later than 9.15 am. Parents/carers should also telephone their child’s transport provider as early as possible to let them know that they are not required. On return, please ALWAYS let us know in the contact book, or by letter, the reason for your child’s absence and again let your transport know that they do need to be picked up again. Family holidays should not be taken during term-time.