Category: Health and Safety

This September we are inviting schools to join the #AskAboutAsthma campaign, to coincide with the start of the new school year, which is the time of year with the highest hospital admission rates for asthma. The campaign, led by the Healthy London Partnership, started on 3 September and will run until 16 September 2018.

Schools, parents, carers, and health professionals are encouraged to ask three simple and important questions to help children and young people control their asthma.

1. Do I have an asthma management plan? The plan (which will shortly be available as a mobile app) helps identify the right colour inhaler, dosage and the time to seek emergency help.
2. Can I use my inhaler effectively?
3. Have I had an annual asthma review?

If the answer is not always yes, it is time to see the GP or school nurse to get these things in place: it could be life changing!

Please display the #AskAboutAsthma poster (external link) to raise awareness about the campaign.

Our local paediatric registrar and the public health team can support schools with the implementation of simple enhancements to in-house asthma management, leading to the award of “Asthma Friendly School” status. This includes free training.

For further information and expressions of interest for this training and support, please contact healthy.schools@haringey.gov.uk.

The Home Office has recently launched a campaign to reduce knife crime among young people and to inspire young people to pursue positive alternatives.  Details of the campaign – called #knifefree – are set out below and can also be viewed on the government’s website here (external link).

Please make sure that this information is shared within your school communities and do use it to help to educate and persuade our young people that there are safe alternatives to carrying a knife.

Eveleen Riordan, Joint Assistant Director, Schools and Learning

VAWG and young people flyer

Many people still do not know what Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) actually means, what the many different forms of violence are and how to spot the first signs of abuse.

Haringey Council is working in partnership with young people to raise awareness around VAWG because we believe the voices of young people need to be heard if we are to end VAWG in Haringey.

If you want to help end violence against women and girls then please promote this opportunity to young people in your school or college (age 14-25) by asking them to spend five minutes filling out this survey (external link). 

As a thank you for joining this movement, we have a £50 voucher to give away to one young person!

If you have any questions about this piece of work, please contact VAWG@Haringey.gov.uk

VAWG and young people flyer

Every secondary school in England is entitled to one free place on the Youth Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) one-day course.  This three-year programme, funded by the Department of Health, will offer every secondary school in England the opportunity to send a delegate to attend this training by the end of 2020.

The course aims to provide delegates with the skills and knowledge to be able to spot the signs of mental health problems in young people and to help them to access the right support.

If a school is interested in hosting the training, then they will be offered up to four additional free places.

Further information here (external link)

Haringey Early Help & Prevention Service has teamed up with Community Links in East London to bring a Peer Mentoring Scheme to Haringey.

‘More than Mentors’ is a new and creative model of peer mentoring, which has been co-designed and co-delivered with young people, with psychology support from the East London Foundation Trust and evaluation by the Anna Freud Centre. Through peer mentoring we are looking to build young people’s emotional resilience and self-confidence, improve their attendance and attainment at school and offer a preventative approach to mental health and emotional distress.

What does More than Mentors offer?

For the Mentors – young people aged 13 to 20 years will be offered an accredited (NOCN level 2) training as a peer mentor, the opportunity to apply their mentoring skills, specialist supervision throughout the programme and further training and development of leaderships skills.

For the Mentees – for young people aged 9 to 17yrs they will be able to meet with a mentor in a safe and supported setting for up to 10 sessions to build on their strengths and develop goals for their future.

For the School – As well as supporting your work with young people, the More than Mentors team will provide a Training the Trainers programme so that More than Mentors can become a sustainable offer.

Views of Young People

Mentor – “I feel more confident in becoming a peer mentor due to the regular and open discussions we have, as a group, we discuss feelings the mentee may feel and how to get them to open up, in the most relaxed and informal way possible”

Mentee – “Cause I know like, she’s gonna listen. And sit there and not judge me on it. … she proper listens. Like, sometimes, no one listens. But she proper listens.”

More than Mentors – Now available to Secondary Schools in Haringey!

Through funding provided by the Department of Health we are now in a position to offer More than Mentors to young people in a Haringey Secondary School.

If you are interested, or for more information please contact:

alison.hackshaw@haringey.gov.uk  020 8489 3844

Parents and carers of young people with emotional or mental health difficulties can get a helping hand thanks to a scheme led by Mind in Haringey.

The Parents in Mind peer support service offers a 12-month programme of support to people who care for a young person aged 10-18.

The scheme offers information about mental health and wellbeing; support, guidance and advice about your child; the chance to share your experiences, and the opportunity to lead group sessions.

Mind in Haringey runs two fortnightly Parents in Mind groups: a daytime group every other Tuesday from 11am to 1pm at various locations is already in operation, while an evening group every other Wednesday from 5 – 7pm at Mind In Haringey, Station House, 73c Stapleton Hall Road, N4 3QF will begin in January.

The service is open to Haringey residents only, and you must register before attending a group. Visit Mind's website (external link) to register or for further information, call 020 8340 2474 or email kate.allen@mih.org.uk

MOPAC and MPS letter to schools re knife wands

In June 2017 the Mayor of London launched the Pan-London Knife Crime Strategy. The protection and education of young people is a key strand within the strategy and there is a recognition that schools and communities play a vital role in keeping the children and young people who attend their schools as safe as possible.

In order to support this, the Mayors’ Office for Police and Crime (MOPAC) through the Safer Schools Officers are offering access to knife screening wands on a loan basis for your use. The Safer Schools Officers will be your point of contact and will also be able to provide advice on using the wands and direct you to the guidance and protocols supporting this initiative

The attached letter details the commitment from the Mayor’s knife crime strategy, to make knife wands accessible to all schools who want one. If you already have access to a Safer Schools officers, then please go through this route to access a knife screening wand. If not then an expression of interest can be sent to Knifescreeningwands@mopac.london.gov.uk.

Letter to head teachers 2017 2

Head teachers should have received a letter from Jeanelle de Gruchy (Director of Public Health) and Margaret Dennison (Interim Director of Children’s Services), inviting your school to participate in the Health Related Behaviour Questionnaire (HRBQ) for pupils currently in years 4, 6, 8 and 10.

This survey is funded by Haringey Council and was last completed in 2015, with 2,753 pupils participating from 26 schools across the borough. We strongly encourage schools to participate in the 2017 questionnaire as it will offer you an insight into the health-related behaviours of your children and young people, and will also  help to inform future commissioning intentions.

For further information please contact: Meinir.Jones@haringey.gov.uk