Specialist Community Public Health Nursing Additional Field of Practice (SCPHN) (School Nursing)

On successful completion of the module, you will be able to:

• Demonstrate professional autonomy to adapt responses to the health and wellbeing of people within the home and communities whilst being sensitive to different cultural perspectives and advocating for those who are most vulnerable.
• Critique, generate and apply evidence and information that seeks to promote health and prevent ill health and disability and propose and evaluate public health interventions.
• Advocate for school-aged children and young people, addressing inequalities whilst undertaking holistic assessment that considers the impact of home, school and family.
• Understand the impact of socio-economic factors when working in partnership with clients and their families to empower school-aged children and young people to manage their health choices and behaviours to prevent ill-health through appropriate interventions.
• Work collaboratively with members of the inter- professional team, statutory and voluntary agencies to promote healthy environments and cultures and evaluate the impact of these.
• Lead, manage and coordinate safe and effective universal services, early help interventions and provide targeted interventions to school-aged children and young people when needed whilst working with interagency teams.

• To be informed by High Impact Areas in School Nursing.
• Decision making in complex and unpredictable environments.
• The impact of equality, diversity inclusion on areas of professional practice.
• Promoting and supporting continuous education and development of individuals and teams within a positive learning culture.
• Knowledge and application of theories of normal and atypical child development when working with  children, young people and families.
• Child, adolescent and adult sexual and reproductive health and contraception. 
• Child nutrition, healthy weight and weight management.
• Supporting children and young people in times of transition.
• Partnership working with multi agency teams in times of transition.
• Establishing positive, trusting relationships with school aged children, parents and carers.
• Medicines management and management of minor illnesses and injuries.

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to: 

• Apply the current theoretical and methodological approaches to build a sound knowledge base.
• Prepare practitioners to have an inquiring attitude and empower them with an ongoing curiosity regarding new and emerging research that informs their school nursing practice.
• Equip practitioners with the skills to build upon previous expertise.
• Challenge values, beliefs and assumptions in relation to working in partnership with families with school aged children

The learning and teaching methods include:

• Observation
• Participation and demonstration of skills
• Professional conversation and reflection
• Clinical supervision
• Contribution to inter-professional forums in practice
• Online learning materials.

The assessment strategy is designed to: provide practitioners with the opportunity to demonstrate critical analysis of evidence based theory with the acquisition of practice skills in the field of school nursing.

In the practice assessment document, practitioners will identify the strengths, challenges, opportunities and barriers (SCOB) to their learning at two key points in their learning journey. This will enable them to set their learning objectives, agree a plan for achieving them with their Practice Assessor and evaluate their progress.

Formative assessment

In practice, practitioners will undergo a process of continuous formative assessment by their Practice Assessor and Practice Supervisor. There will be progress reviews in practice with the practitioner, their Practice Assessor and Academic Assessor on a minimum of two occasions throughout the module where practitioners will be encouraged to self-assess their progress to date.

Summative assessment 

Part A Written assignment

Practitioners will submit three 1000 word reflective accounts which demonstrate their ability to systematically analyse need and engage with families and professionals in the additional field of health visiting practice. 

Each 1000 word account will be a critical appraisal of a different practice experience within the field of school nursing. These three accounts must evidence how competency has been achieved in all four field-specific spheres of school nursing practice:

• Sphere C Promoting human rights and addressing inequalities: assessment, surveillance and intervention
• Sphere D Population health: enabling, supporting and improving health outcomes of people across the life course
• Sphere E Advancing public health services and promoting healthy places, environments and cultures
• Sphere F Leading and collaborating: from investment to action and dissemination

Practitioners will self-evaluate their progress and identify their future development needs. All three reflections must achieve a pass mark - 100%. 

Part B Practice Assessment Document

A practice assessment document of evidence which demonstrates the achievement of SCPHN spheres in school nursing. The evidence in the practice assessment document should contextualise the practitioner’s learning and demonstrate their application of knowledge and skills to the school nursing pathway of professional practice. Assessment in practice is measured against the Standards of Proficiency for SCPHN (NMC 2022) – Pass/Fail 

Take a look at the module reading list.