Staying Healthy This Winter

The arrival of winter is accompanied by an increase in the number of illnesses commonly caught by children of school age. The Southern School Nursing Service offers advice to schools on helping children stay healthy during the winter months.

NHS School Nurse teams work in partnership with children, young people and their families to ensure their health needs are supported within their school and their community.

Your child’s health and wellbeing

A range of NHS webpages provide health information and resources that may be helpful to parents of school age children and young people. Get information and advice about a range of illnesses, conditions and healthy living from our Children's Health and Wellbeing pages.

Get access to the School Nursing service

If you have a concern about your child’s health that you would like to discuss with a School Nurse please contact your child’s School Nursing team. Our contact details can be found on the Southern Health NHS website.

Should my child go to school today?

In the winter there are lots of coughs and colds in the community and it is important for children to Absence and Attendance. Check our childhood illnesses page for handy tips and advice on when it’s safe for your child to go to school.

If your child has a long term health condition and has not had flu vaccination see your GP or practice nurse.

Beat the bugs this winter

The most common way that germs are spread is through your hands. Good hygiene and hand washing can help prevent infections and viruses from spreading. This is vital in school as colds, flu and tummy bugs can quickly spread.

Encourage your child to follow our top tips:

• Ensure that your children come to school with coats and, where appropriate, hats and gloves, ready for the winter weather when they go out to play at break times.
• Take tissues to school.
• Cover their nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough and sneeze and throw the tissue in the bin.
• Wash hands before eating or preparing food.
• Wash hands after using the toilet, blowing their nose, coughing or sneezing, touching animals, playing and working outside and handling uncooked food.

This article uses content from the Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, presenting it here for your convenience and uses it in accordance with their copyright terms. You can access the source document, the Southern NHS School Nursing newsletter here.