On duty: four of Rutherford School’s nursing staff (from left) Niluka Vitharana, Theresa Bullard, Michelle Baker and Jade Hallam
At a special school in South Croydon, the work of its dedicated nursing staff is much-valued on International Nursing Day
Nurses at the Rutherford special school in South Croydon have been praised for being the “heartbeat of holistic care” for its pupils.
Rutherford School, part of The Garwood Foundation local charity, is a unique specialist educational setting for young people with profound and multiple disabilities, or PMLD.
A core component of Rutherford School’s curriculum is the ability of staff to combine both therapies and learning experiences to create bespoke activities for each student. Offering nursing care throughout their school day is essential for students to be able to attend and get the most out of their learning opportunities and school day.
Lindi Paterson, Rutherford School’s teaching and learning lead, said: “The nursing team at Rutherford School is the heartbeat of holistic care – uniting health, education, and compassion to empower our students with PMLD to learn, thrive, connect and be their best self.”
One of Garwood’s key aims is to be the place where every ability shines with a day centre and residential home to complement the services it offers at Rutherford School.
Providing post-16 education to students who are unable to explore mainstream opportunities due to their physical and medical needs, the school has 32 in attendance. The combination of education, therapy and nursing ensures that students can be in a school setting more regularly, pushing against the limits of their disabilities in a suitable thriving and fun learning environment with other young people up to the age of 25.
Jade Hallam has worked at Rutherford School in the nursing team for three years. She said, “I love being part of the nursing team at Rutherford School – no two days are ever the same, and every day brings new challenges and rewards.”
Treatment lessons: a Rutherford School nurse, Jade Hallam, handles a feed tube for one of the pupils
The five-strong nursing team rotates tasks and care, so they get to interact with all the pupils. From the moment the pupils arrive for their school day, the team are in action delivering feeds, medication and setting up for the day ahead.
With monthly height and weight measurements to administering medication, suction, and feeds the nurses have a varied schedule every day.
As some students have limited vision and most are non-verbal, “We often use cues to let the students know what is happening. For example, if we’re peg feeding a student, we’ll be speaking to them and touch their belly, or let them touch and feel the tube before we go ahead,” said Theresa Bullard, a healthcare assistant.
“We also have systems in place for emergencies. Some of our students are quite prone to seizures, so we’re all ready to help at any given moment”.
With many different health needs such as cerebral palsy, epilepsy, Rett syndrome and rare genetic conditions, there is a wide variety of nursing needs. The newest member of the nursing team, Niluka Vitharana, said, “I love learning new skills, and the team has been very welcoming.”
Alongside a busy day-to-day school life, Rutherford School is undergoing major building works, creating a modernised hydrotherapy pool, extra classroom and accessible community meeting space as part of Garwood’s Space to Thrive appeal.
The appeal, which is raising the final £100,000 of a £2.5million target, will mean more students with complex disabilities can benefit from special education and therapies at Garwood’s Rutherford School site as the extra classroom will mean an increase in student numbers.
Members of the public will also be able to use the hydrotherapy pool for injury or illness rehabilitation and physio, with the new facilities available to hire in the evenings and weekends.
The nursing team, however, remain dedicated to caring for the students: “The most important thing in my job is seeing the students smile and knowing I have helped them,” Bullard said.
You can read more and support the Space to Thrive appeal for Rutherford School on the Garwood Foundation’s website: www.garwoodfoundation.org.uk/space-to-thrive.
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