East Sussex School Health

Contact us

Please visit our website at East Sussex Children for information about health topics and training support for schools.

Referring to the East Sussex School Health Service is easy:

0300 123 4062 – School Health One Point (SHOP)
kentchft.esschoolhealthservice@nhs.net
Online referral form

We are available from 8.30am until 5pm, Monday to Friday, including school holidays.

Text Your School Nurse

Need to speak to someone now contact us by text using our confidential text messaging service for parents and carers of children of ages 5 to 19 years and also young people aged between 11 to 19 years.

07507 332 473

Find us on Facebook – /ESSchoolHealth

Who we are

Your School Health Team is led by registered, qualified nurses who have a specialist community public health degree. The team consists of community staff nurses, assistant practitioners, health improvement staff, school nurse assistants and administrators.

We work closely with a number of other services, including: Education, GPs, Children’s Integrated Therapy Services, paediatricians, the voluntary sector, youth services and East Sussex Children's Services.

All of our colleagues that work within schools and with children, families and young people have enhanced disclosure and barring checks (DBS); we are committed to promoting the healthy development, resilience and welfare of all children and young people.

What we do

Our focus is on promoting the health and wellbeing of all school-aged children from four to19 years-of-age, striving to deliver the very best care that we can. We do this by completing a health assessment with you and your child or the young person themselves, to identify the most appropriate intervention and potential outcome and we will work with you to achieve this. Where we are unable to help, we will always signpost or refer you to a more suitable service.

How do you use our service

Children, young people and families can access our service in a number of ways. Children must be between the ages of four and 19.

Young people can self-refer via any of our drop in clinics at secondary schools/colleges, by contacting us through our confidential texting service 07507 332 473. Parents and professionals are welcome to contact us using the details above or by completing our online referral form.

East Sussex healthy schools programme

The East Sussex healthy schools programme builds on previous evidence-based approaches developed locally and is supported by East Sussex Public Health and the East Sussex School Health Service.

The healthy schools programme brings together the following three components that support schools in taking a systematic approach to health and wellbeing:

the school health check (helping you to achieve Healthy Schools Status)
a new pupil survey for Year 6, Year 9 and post 16 students, my health, my school, and
a new updated PSHE offer from the School Health Service.

The Healthy Schools programme supports schools to recognise and celebrate achievements in whole-school health improvement and provides a simple way to collate a range of evidence that will be useful for Ofsted inspection judgement areas.

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86%

Friends and Family test (FFT) question - percentage of positive responses

(Survey feedback from January to March 2024)

You said, we did

The process and content of group webinars for parents could be improved.
- November 2023
Changes made:
Parents are now given an option at triage to proceed straight to webinar without an initial assessment.
Prior to webinar, assessment has been amended to check understanding of webinar and foundations of sleep.
Content of webinars re-written as the foundations to frame healthy sleep.
Clear options are provided on webinar and by staff on how to access more support.
Taking questions from parents during a webinar is being trialled.
The pack provided following a webinar has been renewed; a copy of webinar and clear discharge letter with links and instructions on how to access more support.

There was a misunderstanding about the reception-aged programmes being opt-out rather than consent being required.
- November 2023
In preparation for next year, the service amended the parent/carer letter, to include clear explanation that the programmes are opt-out and details on how to do so if required.

Missed telephone calls from the service were not returned and as no messages were left the parent was unaware who had rung. Parent was then advised by letter that child had been discharged from the service.
- July 2023
A new process has been put in place which entails the service making two attempts to contact parents, including leaving voice messages and allowing a reasonable time frame for contact to be made with the service, before it is necessary to discharge the child and a re-referral is needed.

A parent attending a workshop felt questions about female genital mutilation (FGM) were inappropriate for that particular session.
- April 2023
For future workshops, the service added a framed question about FGM and produced guidance for staff to assist with parental questioning.

Your comments

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May 2023

The lady was very friendly, lots of information was given, in a clear way, lots of good advice.

May 2023

Elaine was really understanding and very knowledgeable with children with special educational needs.

May 2023

Really well laid out and explained really well, useful information.

May 2023

It was nice to feel that I was not alone and the outcome was really good.

May 2023

Pauline was amazing and was so good with my son.

April 2023

Everyone was really helpful and pointed me in the right direction.

April 2023

Kind people, knew what we needed, booked in straight away, I could not believe how quick it was.

April 2023

Everyone was very friendly, I was happy and so were my children.

April 2023

It provided the info that I needed. Everyone been really helpful and lovely.

April 2023

The staff were helpful and kind to my child.

April 2023

Very easy and convenient, team was amazing.

April 2023

The practitioner Karen was really friendly, she put my daughter at ease and had a really good rapport with her.

April 2023

The staff, Julie and Helen were really helpful, welcoming and informative about the next steps.

March 2023

Info provided was very clear and easy to understand.

March 2023

Lady was kind and understanding and explained everything.

March 2023

Felt whole experience was really beneficial.

March 2023

It gave my daughter the acknowledgement there is support outside school.

March 2023

People friendly, approachable and refreshingly helpful.

March 2023

I thought that Gemma was very approachable, explained things really well to her and there was not a long wait either.

March 2023

The ladies were very lovely and some of the advise and information was useful.

March 2023

Kept in the loop at all times. Really pleased with the service. Kayleigh delivered the package of care.

January 2023

The lady who helped me and my daughter ( nurse practitioner Phillipa) was so professional and very good at her job.

December 2022

Philippa, my daughters school nurse practitioner, has been helping me try and overcome and help my daughter's bladder problem for a few weeks now and she is so lovely and helpful and good at her job.

December 2022

Understanding, helpful to myself and my child.

December 2022

Nurse listened to my worries and concerns. She made me feel I wasn't alone and she cared.

June 2022

Fantastic advice. Always given in such a kind, supportive, patient manner.

June 2022

Everything said made sense and well explained.

June 2022

All happened quickly - Gemma had a very lovely manner. Gave great coping strategies to support my daughter.

May 2022

Elaine was very supportive an understanding of my situation.

April 2022

Webinar attended, felt supported and helped us to progress with sleep plans - fantastic service.

April 2022

Very quick response all explained very well, all calls answered very quickly.

April 2022

Ladies who ran the webinar were very welcoming and I was impressed with the webinar.

April 2022

The course leaders were very chatty and friendly and the content was good.

March 2022

Gemma was lovely - very patient, honest and understanding very supportive.

March 2022

All questions answered and dealt with quickly.

February 2022

Very supportive and understanding and also feel like they really want to help.

February 2022

Very patient and very knowledgeable and lots of information.

February 2022

Amazing, offered lots of support being referred to other services very quick/swift and the nurses went above and beyond.

December 2021

The ladies delivering the webinar were very pleasant. There manner was very welcoming. During the webinar they ensured that I understood the information being delivered.

November 2021

The staff just listened to me, there was no interruptions, I felt listened to.

November 2021

When we attended the appointment we went straight in, there was no waiting, which was ideal because my son was very nervous.

October 2021

The sessions were taken at my son's pace, we never felt rushed and sessions were cut short if they felt my son was not coping with them. We never felt judged because of this.

October 2021

I was given lots of useful information and relevant websites that have been really helpful. The nurse was always polite and her tone of voice was friendly.

October 2021

It was a relief to have some to talk to to, encouraging me and I was able to talk about about my son openly.

October 2021

I did not have to wait very long after the referral and the communication from the service was very good.

September 2022

Quick response - information on webinar given very helpful - felt I could return for more help if needed.

September 2022

Healthy habits was brilliant - learnt a lot - loved the way that they learned together and it was fun - staff extremely supportive. Felt listened to and not judged.

September 2022

The quickness of the appointment - everyone was lovely caring and kind.

September 2022

Initial phone call very friendly and efficient - easy to access the webinar - whole experience was smooth.

August 2022

The nurse really listened dealt with my child brilliantly. They gave child good advice and my child felt she was able to talk and enjoyed doing so.

August 2022

the nurse couldn't have been more helpful, was fantastic and really thorough

August 2022

Dealt with very quickly and efficiently.

July 2022

Really helpful - lovely lady was very supportive.

July 2022

Really helpful - practical and given real strategies - Elaine was brilliant and sleep webinar was very useful.