Barnet Special School Nursing Service
The Special School Nursing Team provides specialist nursing support to children and young people aged 4–19 years with complex medical and health needs. Our aim is to support children and young people to remain safe and well in school, enabling them to access education and achieve the best possible health and wellbeing outcomes.
Our team is made up of registered nurses from a range of nursing disciplines, bringing a variety of skills and experience to the service, alongside experienced nursing assistants. Most members of the team work during school term time, with some staff working throughout the year to provide continuity of the service.
We work closely with families, education staff, healthcare professionals, social care and other partner agencies to ensure that children and young people receive safe, coordinated and individualised care.
Special School Nurses play a central role in assessing, planning and coordinating healthcare within the school setting, supporting schools to meet the individual health needs of their pupils.
Due to the complexity of the children and young people on our caseload, Special School Nurses are based at Oakleigh School and Mapledown School. The team also provides an outreach service to Oak Lodge School, Northway Special School and Acorn Pre-School Assessment Centre in Barnet.
Our role includes:
- Developmental monitoring, including height and weight
- Continence assessment, management and advice
- Health promotion
- Health assessments and interviews
- Devising, reviewing and updating individual healthcare plans to support the safe management of children's and young people's health needs in school
- Supporting children and young people with conditions including asthma, epilepsy and anaphylaxis
- Supporting parents, carers and education staff in the management of medical conditions
- Providing training, advice and support to teachers and teaching assistants in relation to specific health conditions and healthcare needs
- Supporting paediatrician clinics and working collaboratively with paediatricians to support the ongoing health needs of children and young people
- Attending safeguarding meetings where appropriate and contributing relevant health information to support the safeguarding and wellbeing of children and young people
- Working collaboratively with education, health, social care and other professionals involved in a child or young person's care
The Special School Nursing Team has experience in supporting children and young people with a wide range of medical and health needs, including:
- Enteral feeding, including gastrostomy and jejunostomy feeding
- Asthma
- Epilepsy
- Anaphylaxis and severe allergies
- Rare and complex medical conditions
- Cerebral palsy
- Learning disabilities
- Metabolic disorders
- Safeguarding needs
Please note that Special School Nurses do not provide the school's general first aid service. Schools are responsible for ensuring that appropriately trained first aid staff are available to respond to routine first aid needs.
Information leaflet:
Click here for the Special School Nursing Team leaflet
Contact the Special School Nursing Team:
For further information, advice or support, please contact the Barnet Special School Nursing Team.
Email: [email protected]
The team will be happy to provide advice and support or direct your query to the appropriate member of the nursing team.
Barnet Children’s Complex Care Team
The Barnet Children's Complex Care Team is a team of registered paediatric nurses that carries out Continuing Care assessments, reviews, and case management of care packages for children and young people with complex healthcare needs up to their 18th birthday.
We support children and young people whose health needs are complex due to congenital conditions, long-term conditions, disabilities, life-limiting or life-threatening illnesses, or the effects of serious illness or injury. These needs may be so significant that they cannot be met through universal services routinely provided by GP practices, hospitals, or other community services.
What we do:
The team:
- Undertakes initial, annual and reassessments of NHS-funded packages of care.
- Supports the discharge of children and young people with complex medical needs from hospital.
- Works in partnership with families, health professionals, education providers, and social care services.
- Ensures care packages continue to meet the child's assessed healthcare needs through regular review.
- Monitors the quality and safety of care provided by external care agencies.
- Supporting safeguarding processes and escalating concerns where required.
- Supply certain medical equipment and supplies for the delivery of the care the individual child or young person on the caseload require.
Please note that the team provides services for children registered with a Barnet GP.
Contact Barnet Children's Complex Care Team:
For further information, please contact us. Our service operates Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays.
Phone number: 0208 349 7066
Email: [email protected]
Free annual health check
Anyone aged 14 or over who is on their doctor's learning disability register can have a free annual health check once a year. You can ask to go on this register if you think you have a learning disability.