School nurse training

[PirateMonkey]

Does anyone know if you have to be a registered nurse in order to train as a SN or is there a more direct way to enter this career? Also, what would you say are the most important peronal skills and qualities a perspective SN should possess? Are the longterm career prospects promising? Tia!

Can only answer your first question; yes of course they are registered nurses. Sure there will be someone on Mumsnet who does/has done it! I do know you don't have to be a paediatric nurse though.

Thank you NurseRatched! I am looking into retraining in a medical field but not sure yet what role will be feasible / realistic. I like the idea of working as a school nurse because I can see that there is a social as well as medical element to it. I'll clearly have to do more fact finding.

There used to be a scheme that involved doing a Community Health post-grad program after basic nurse training, with branches so people came out as either health visitors, school nurses, senior district nurses and maybe something else but all had the Community Practitioner academic qualification. Can't remember the details but that would be something to research! I will see if I can find a link.

Something like this

In birmingham you have to be an RGN first, then take a two year community nurse course.

Hi, yes you have to be a registered nurse first. Where I work you can then work in school health without doing the additional School Nursing specialist qualification. I think that over time that will change though. The qualification is Specialist Community Public Health Nursing and is a one year, full time course. It's worth looking into as we have Health Improvement Practitioners in the school health team who are graduates but do not have a nursing qualification. They work in a health promotion role and do not have a child protection caseload and could be a possibility for you if you have a degree in something relevant?

tiredemma that's not quite right the course is run over an academic year, you have to be an RN in adult or child branch. The course, which is usually a secondment by a local Community Health trust is a years degree. It's a Specialist Practioner award and runs from September to the following summer. You usually start as a community staff nurse then apply for the secondment. I know this as I did the District Nurse Specialist Practioner course which runs alongside the SN (also in Birmingham). To be a school nurse you pretty much need the same qualities as a general nurse, lots of patience, a passion for the role and shed loads of commitment. The degree was the hardest academic year I've done as its such a lot of work in a very short amount of time.

Hi fed up, sorry. I think a colleague did it over two years but I may be wrong ( she was part time).

Hi tiredemma, yes you are right you can do it over 2 yrs, are you a community nurse too? We may know each other

I have a friend who works on the school nurse team ,she is RGN and RM but has not yet done the Specialist course.
Both the health visitor and school nurse teams in our area have Staff Nurses without the qualification working with them but think this will be changing soon.

No. I trained at uni of bham but I'm a mental health nurse working in bham.

Thank you for the link NurseRatchet. Bristols, I will look up what Health Improvement Practitioners do and how to become one. I have a first degree in a very different field so that would probably not help me. Maybe I could take some other courses in public health (think OU offer some).

Are there any school nurses here and would you tell me what the best / worst bits about your job are? What kind of people would they look for apart from having the right training of course? Is it a job with decent employability prospects? Thanks again!

Bristol, one of the program's I found today after some searching is offered by LSE called MSc Health, Community and Development. Would studying a course like that be a possible entry into school health? I would love to study to be a (school) nurse but with 2 young kids it seems unrealistic for me study for potentially 4 years whilst having to pay for child care...

That course does sound relevant but I couldn't say for sure that it would help you get into school health. Why don't you get in touch with your local Matron? They might be able to guide you further. Or could you consider a health promotion/support safeguarding or mentorship role directly with the school? I know that some schools employ counsellors so I don't know whether that might be a route in? Which part of school nursing particularly interests you?

Thank you all. Lots of good ideas. I will try to contact the district matron and to see what she might suggest. Thanks again!