Senior Special School Nurse

Job summary

Take your nursing career to the next level with our award-winning Special School Nursing Team.

This is more than a nursing role - its an opportunity to develop leadership skills, shape services, and make a lasting impact on children and young people with complex health needs. Youll build expertise in epilepsy and seizure management, enteral feeding, medicines management, clinical assessments, and respiratory care, while gaining valuable experience in safeguarding, service improvement, and multidisciplinary teamwork. As a senior nurse, youll oversee and support junior colleagues, delegate tasks, and ensure high-quality care. We cover nine schools across Hampshire, Portsmouth, Southampton, and the Isle of Wight, offering a structured rotational induction to broaden your experience. Our leadership training, blended learning package, and regular supervision will give you the confidence to mentor staff, lead training programmes, and drive service improvements. Youll also have opportunities to specialise as a link nurse, and access CPD funding to support your career progression. A UK nursing registration, experience with children and young people, learning disabilities, and complex health needs, plus a full driving licence, are essential.

If youre looking for a rewarding leadership role where you can develop and grow, apply today!

Current role based in Southampton area.

Main duties, tasks & skills required

To meet the needs of patients and their families to achieve improved health outcomes and promote health and wellbeing while demonstrating care, compassion, competence, communication, courage, and commitment. Care is based on comprehensive assessment, ensures continuity and is patient/client centred, culturally sensitive and evidence-based and which promotes independence.

Responsible for co-ordinating the work of the team, influencing clinical decisions and monitoring the quality of patient care provided through utilising and maintaining expert clinical knowledge relevant to own field of practice, underpinned by theory and expertise.

Manage a caseload/named nurse.

Supervise junior members of staff, students on placements.

To develop and maintain a culture of service improvement which promotes quality and safety and striving to do better.

This is in line with the requirements set out in the NMC code which require all registered nurses to:

Prioritise people; Practice effectively; Preserve safety; Promote professionalism and trust.

About us

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust provides joined-up mental and physical healthcare for around two million people across our communities. With over 13,000 staff working in the community and local hospitals, we deliver care at every stage of life, helping people live their best and healthiest lives.

Our mental health services include community-based support and early intervention in psychosis (EIP) for both adults and young people, alongside a network of specialist inpatient wards covering forensic, learning disability, eating disorder and older person's care.

We deliver extensive physical health services too, from urgent community response teams helping frail and older patients remain safely at home, to hospitals at home teams providing acute-level care in familiar surroundings. Our neurological services offer rehabilitation and treatment for conditions including Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's Disease, Motor Neurone Disease, Head Injury, Cerebral Palsy and Stroke. Across Hampshire, our community hospitals provide inpatient rehabilitation as a step down from acute care, and our dedicated teams also staff Treetops Sexual Assault Referral Centre in Portsmouth, offering expert, compassionate support.

Everything we do is underpinned by our CARE values of compassion, accountability, respect and excellence

Job description

Further information about the Trust and this role can be found on the Job Description and Person Specification document attached. It is important to us that we ensure our recruitment processes are accessible and inclusive to everyone - if as a potential candidate you are concerned a person specification may prevent or restrict your application for employment as a result of unintentional barriers on the grounds of your sex, race, age, sexual orientation, religion/belief or disability please initially contact the Trust's Recruitment team - detailed in the advert. The Trust will seek to resolve this issue wherever possible.

We are happy to talk Flexible Working - all requests for flexible working options can be discussed as part of the interview process.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential

• BSc Nursing or RN in Child or Learning Disability Nursing and currently registered with NMC.
• Post registration, specialist training relevant to speciality.
• Teaching Qualification, e.g. ENB 998 or equivalent
• Practice assessor/supervisor

Experience

Essential

• Experienced in assessing and developing patient care plans.
• Experienced in developing and delivering care and clinical interventions to patients.
• Experience of MDT working
• Experience of teaching, training, and supervision/assessing junior staff and students
• Evidence of recent CPD
• Evidence of developing policy, guidelines contributing to management of resources

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

UK Professional Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website.

For help with your application, contact: 

Marina Crail 

marina.crail2@nhs.net 

07747757679