27 October 2016

Jeremy Rockliff, Minister for Education and Training

More schools to benefit from school nurses in 2017

A further five FTE school nurse positions have been advertised as part of the Tasmanian Government’s $5.8 million election commitment to re-introduce School Health Nurses.

The third stage of recruitment has been brought forward from July 2017 to January 2017 to help improve the health and wellbeing of Tasmania’s children and young people sooner.

These additional five positions means a total of 20 Registered Nurses will be in schools working across 19 schools from 2017, with a total of 81 schools across the state receiving support from a school nurse.

School nurses help students in a number of areas, from mental health and wellbeing, to body image and healthy relationships, as well as the delivery of local, state and national promotion initiatives.

This stage of the roll out will see:

• Two  Primary School Health Nurses in the north supporting East Ulverstone Primary School, Hillcrest Primary School, Nixon Street Primary School, Ulverstone Primary School, West Ulverstone Primary School, Deloraine Primary School, Hagley Farm Primary School, Longford Primary School, Westbury Primary School and Youngtown Primary School
• One Primary School Health Nurse in the south supporting Cygnet Primary School, Franklin Primary School, Glen Huon Primary School, Huonville Primary School and Kingston Primary School
• Two Secondary School Health Nurses in the south supporting Kingston High School, Taroona High School, New Town High School, Ogilvie High School.

This recruitment builds on the specialised health service our Primary School Health Nurses and Secondary School Health Nurses are already providing to students enrolled in targeted schools since July 2015.

With the Budget back on track, we are making the structural change and targeted investment that is necessary to give every Tasmanian student a better education and greater opportunities in life.

For more information on the School Health Nurse Programme go to: https://www.education.tas.gov.au/parents_carers/schools-colleges/Programs-Initiatives/Pages/School-Health-Nurse-Programme.aspx

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