Guidance and support
We believe very strongly in the partnership between home and school.
We know it is difficult balancing, home, school and work with your little ones. However, it is so true that even 5 minutes a day can help your child. A great place is in the car whilst on a car journey. Children seem to love asking you all those questions and telling you things. You can use this opportunity to help them too! This can be as easy as phonetically sounding out some words and your child has to say the word ie, c-a-t 'cat'. You can ask them to look for numbers on houses or ask them timetables (Year 2 - 2's, 5's and 10's), addition or subtraction questions or even some maths problems. If your little one finds it difficult try to give feedback rather than criticism, e.g. saying ‘that didn’t seem to work’ rather than ‘you got it wrong’. This helps them think about where they went wrong and how they can improve in future, rather than just feeling like a failure. We opt a growth mind set in school, and we encourage the children to not say 'I can't do it' but to say 'I can't do it YET!'
Please check your year group curriculum letters each half-term which will tell you the focus for your child's learning for that term. This will be maths, writing, phonics or handwriting.
Please remember to allow your child to develop at their own pace, but if you do have concerns, please speak to their teacher.
Click on the links below for our guides of how to support your children in Maths and English. In addition, information regarding the phonics schemes used at the school can be found in the curriculum tab.
Our family support worker gives emotional and practical help and advice to families that are having long or short-term difficulties. A key part of her work is to help parents to improve their home management and parenting skills. This could involve;
- Developing physical and emotional caring skills.
- Learning how to educate children through play.
- Understanding effective ways to deal with behavioural issues.
- Gaining control of the family budget.
- Encouraging parents to attend local workshops to develop their parenting skills.
School Nursing Service and your School Health Team
School Nurses are all qualified nurses, often with additional specialist qualifications in Public Health.
Each School has a named school nurse who is the key health care worker in school.
At Shirley Infant School, Our School Nurse is Janet Barfoot.
School nurses work with children from four years nine months up to 16 years of age.
The School Nursing Team provides services for children, young people and their families within their home, their schools and in community settings.
The school nurse is the link to the School Health Team. Parents, carers, and young people can use the School Nursing Service by contacting the school or calling the number at bottom of the page.
What does the School Nursing Team provide?
In Primary School
Every child is offered a school entrance health assessment, usually in the term of their 5th birthday. Children receive an assessment of their height and weight in Year 6 as part of the National Child Measurement Programme.
Health assessments in primary education can be carried out at any age with parental consent. These include:
- Growth monitoring.
- Vision screening.
- Hearing tests.
- Health promotion.
In Secondary School
In secondary education young people are encouraging to assess their own health needs and emotional wellbeing. Other services include:
- Drop in services.
- Sexual health clinics.
- Health promotion activities.
- HPV Immunisation programme.
- Children educated at home.
The school nursing service is also available to families who have chosen to educate their children at home. Your named school nurse will contact you to arrange an appointment at a time and venue convenient to you and your child. The nurses also hold group sessions which include healthy eating, dental hygiene, puberty sexual health and support for the transition to adult services. These sessions are held at venues across the city. If your child would like to participate please contact the school nurse for details.
The School Health Team also provides preventative programmes in schools which aim to improve future health and wellbeing. This may include issues such as obesity, sexual health, alcohol, smoking, and substance misuse.
The School Health Team supports and signposts to other appropriate services including:
- Health Visiting.
- Community Nursery Nurses.
- Community Paediatricians.
The School Health Team work closely with:
- Education and safeguarding teams.
- Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).
- Contraception and Sexual Health Services.
- GPs.
- Teachers.
- Social Care.
- Other health services, e.g. Speech and Language, hearing and vision clinics.
- Children Continence Service.
How to Contact the School Nursing Team
Please contact the School Nursing Team at:
Shirley Health Centre
Grove Road
Shirley
Southampton
SO15 3UA
Tel: 02380 347277
If you have concerns about a child please contact Children’s Social Care on: 02380 833336.