Working together to keep children and staff well and in schools and settings

The South West and Devon Health Protection Teams would like to extend their support to early years and education settings across the region as the new school year begins. The SW Health Protection Team at UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), in collaboration with the Public Health Team here at Devon County Council (DCC), are here to help you prevent and manage cases and outbreaks of infectious diseases across all educational settings.

Included are some key links, resources, updates, and wider service signposting which we hope you may find useful in keeping children, young people and staff as healthy as possible. For direct support, UKHSA outbreak response details are included towards the end of this article.

National UKHSA guidance

National guidance for staff in children’s settings on specific infectious diseases can now be found collated on the following page: Health protection in children and young people’s settings, including education – GOV.UK

This includes a very useful A-Z list providing advice on specific infectious diseases you many come across in educational settings, including school attendance advice and when you may need to contact the SW Health Protection Team (SWHPT).

Most infections can be safely and effective managed within educational settings, so we highly recommend that you refer to this guidance before contacting the SWHPT.

Please find attached a staff poster linking to this guidance and a poster to be shared with parents with advice for common childhood illness around when their children should and should not stay at home: How long should you keep your child off school – checklist poster (text version) – GOV.UK

Poster for parents – should i keep my child off school?

Infection prevention and control (IPC) self-assessment checklist for educational settings

The IPC checklist, which you may already be familiar with, is attached with updated links. This document is a collaboration between Devon, Plymouth and Torbay Councils designed to help provide a structured infection control approach for schools in preparing for winter. A compilation of links, poster resources and advice on procedures such as Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) are included.

School immunisation programme

Schools are encouraged to support the school-aged immunisation service, both by helping to communicate vaccination information to parents and providing suitable space within the school for vaccination sessions as needed. Kernow Health CIC continues to deliver this service in Devon and have both parent-facing and school resources (including vaccine storyboards, early years cartoons and advertising graphics on their website.

The NHS also provides a useful and accessible parent-facing vaccination summary.

Also attached is a poster for parents, outlining the vaccine schedule with a related UKHSA website QR code and catch-up clinic booking number.

A Vaccinations in Schools: Support for Educators joint webinar on October 14th is also available to educators in all settings, and will cover immunisation, cross-organisation working, Q&A and a special update on measles.

Staff vaccinations

Schools and early years settings are also encouraged to support staff vaccinations where eligible. Protection against measles, mumps and rubella via two doses of MMR should be promoted to all staff. Staff unsure of their status can check via the NHS App or by contacting their GP and receive any missing doses free of charge.

As we head into winter, some staff will be eligible for flu and COVID vaccinations, and we encourage them to take these up to ensure they are protected. For more information on staff eligibility please see the vaccine for adults and adults at risk sections of the NHS vaccination summary page.

Additional resources

Some additional links and resources which may be of use to your educational settings and local newsletters include:

• The UKHSA winter communications blog has just been updated, including parent-friendly communications and signposting to hygiene, infection control, vaccination and cold weather support.
• Devon Schools Wellbeing Partnership host highly accessible information for schools and parents on infectious diseases, immunisations, emergency planning and wider resources. This includes teacher training, CPD and service signposting.
• The e-Bug health education programme by the UKHSA provides free resources, for educators, caregivers and parents on infection control and antimicrobial resistance. The staff training pilot for Early Years and Educational Settings (EYES) is currently offering a 5-part, one hour training programme, delivered flexibly over four weeks. To learn more or agree to take part, please email rita.ochili@ukhsa.gov.uk by the 30th of September.
• The Winter Readiness Toolkit by Southwest Councils provides resources for winter preparation, infection control and outbreak management. This includes the concise 3-page infection prevention and control checklist, poster assets such as “Catch it, Bin it, Kill it”, outbreak action checklists (respiratory, D&V) and service signposting.

Finally, UKHSA South West Health Protection Team (SWHPT) leads outbreak response and if necessary, can be contacted via swhpt@ukhsa.gov.uk or telephone: 0300 303 8162.