In preparation for the start of the new academic year, this update is intended to provide education settings with the latest Health Protection updates. Please feel free to use information in this email in your own communications as appropriate. We intend on sending these short updates at the beginning of each Autumn, Spring and Summer term.
Updates include:
Reminder of UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) Contact Details and Useful Links
Should you need any advice or guidance regarding an infectious disease concern within your setting, you can contact the UKHSA South West Health Protection Team via the following:
Phone: 0300 303 8162
Email: swhpt@ukhsa.gov.uk
Links which may be of use:
Attendance
As we move into a period where coughs, colds and seasonal illnesses are more common, we understand that it can sometimes be difficult for parents/ carers to decide whether their child is well enough to attend school. School attendance is vital for children’s learning, wellbeing and wider development, and is a strong protective factor for all children and young people, especially the most vulnerable. Missing school due to illness should only be where necessary.
More information on when you should keep children away from educational and early years settings can be found on the NHS website (Is my child too ill for school? - NHS and poster to display).
The 'Caring for children with cough' leaflet (Caring for Babies and Children with Cough) was produced by researchers at the University of Bristol after extensive work with parents. It explains what parents should do when looking after a child with a cough and when parents should take their child to see a doctor.
Closing a school or early years setting should be a last resort. Any decision to close a setting on Public Health grounds should be discussed in an Incident Management Team meeting and support sought from the UK Health Security Agency and Local Authority Public Health Team.
Immunisation Update
A reminder that Sirona Care and Health are the School-aged Immunisations Provider for Bristol. The service is offered primarily in schools and community catch-up clinics are available for anyone who has missed their vaccination in school or who does not attend school. For more information:
Other links which may be of use for vaccination:
Flu Vaccination
Flu can be very unpleasant for children and can sometimes cause serious problems, such as pneumonia. Each winter in the UK, thousands of children who do not have a health condition need hospital care because of flu.
Children can catch and spread flu easily. Vaccinating them also helps protect others who are at higher risk of getting seriously ill from flu, such as babies, anyone who's pregnant and older people.
As preparations are underway for the upcoming flu season, the BNSSG Integrated Care Board have shared the important message below:
[FAO Headteachers] School Flu Vaccination Programme 2026/27 - Help protect children against flu this winter
Every autumn, children of primary school age (Reception to Year 6), secondary school age (Years 7 to 11) and all young people attending Special Schools are offered a free flu vaccination through the Sirona Care & Health NHS School Aged Immunisation Service.
As preparations begin for the 2026/27 flu vaccination programme, schools will be contacted by the local vaccination team to arrange on-site vaccination sessions. Once a date has been agreed, schools are asked to ensure it is entered into their calendar and confirmed with the vaccination team as soon as possible.
With vaccination teams required to visit a large number of schools within a relatively short timeframe, it can be difficult to accommodate changes to scheduled sessions. Schools are therefore asked to request alternative dates only where absolutely necessary.
When consent forms become available, schools play a vital role in supporting uptake by sharing the consent forms/link promptly with parents and carers, sending reminders and promoting the importance of flu vaccination through school communications such as newsletters, websites and social media channels.
To provide the best possible protection ahead of the winter season, the school-based flu vaccinations should be completed by the end of November. The support of schools is therefore essential in helping children receive their vaccination in time.
For further information about the 2026/27 flu vaccination programme:
Thank you for your continued support in helping to protect children, families and communities from seasonal flu.
Sirona Care & Health Flu Season Webinar (7th September 13:00-13:30)
Sirona Care & Health have invited primary schools to a short webinar on Monday 7th September (13:00-13:30) on the practicalities of supporting a flu session.
If you haven’t received the invite, contact sirona.sch-imms@nhs.net
Seasonal Flu Vaccination Webinar Recording and Slides (UKHSA, NHS England, Department of Education)
A webinar on preparing schools for the seasonal flu vaccine 2026/27, jointly hosted by UK Health Security Agency, NHS England and the Department for Education took place in June 2026. The link to the recording and the slides are below. We strongly encourage school leaders to watch this.
- Recording: Webinar on preparing schools for the seasonal flu vaccine 2026/27 (YouTube)
- Slides: Webinar on preparing schools for the seasonal flu vaccine 2026/27 (Google Drive)
For posters and leaflets: Flu vaccination for children: leaflets and posters - GOV.UK
Flu Vaccine: Information for parent/ guardians
Most school-aged children (Reception to Year 11) get their flu vaccine at school.
Parents/ guardians should get an invitation from their child's school or the School Age Immunisation Service to get their vaccine, usually during the autumn term.
If a child misses their vaccination at school or if they are home educated (home-schooled), they should be offered a flu vaccine at a community clinic.
If a child does not attend school, parents/ guardians should be contacted and offered a flu vaccine at a community clinic. Parent/ guardians are welcome to contact the School Immunisations Service directly to arrange your child’s vaccination on 0300 124 5515 or via email sirona.sch-imms@nhs.net.
Children with certain long-term conditions can get their flu vaccine from their GP if they prefer.
For more information on the flu vaccine: Children's flu vaccine - NHS and Children’s flu vaccine - BNSSG Healthier Together
HPV
The UKHSA have published a new blog post explaining what is HPV and the effectiveness of the HPV vaccine. Research published in the Lancet found that there were no deaths from cervical cancer between 2020 and 2024 among women aged 20 to 24 who had received the HPV vaccine at school. Vaccine coverage in this cohort was around 88% to 90%. However, in recent years uptake rates for HPV vaccination among girls and boys have fallen compared to rates seen before the pandemic, and we know that there are variations in the proportion of young people taking up the vaccine depending on where they are and the circumstances in which they live. There is a risk of growing numbers of young people missing out on the vital protection that the HPV vaccine provides.
All children aged 12 to 13 (school year 8) are offered the vaccine through school-age immunisation services. If you or your child missed it at that age, it can still be accessed for free. Girls aged 24 and under, and boys born after 1 September 2006 aged 24 and under, are eligible to catch-up. Please see HPV vaccine - NHS for further information.
Measles
Latest measles data shows that measles continues to circulate in many parts of the country; majority of cases between 1 January 2026 and 3rd August 2026 were in children aged 10 years and under. Nationally, three measles-related deaths have been reported to date in 2026.
Please continue to urge parents/ guardians to check their children are up to date with their MMR or MMRV vaccines to give them the best and safest protection against measles.
The Measles Information pack for early years, education and childcare settings is attached to this email. The pack is for managers and staff working in early years, education and childcare settings in England. It provides information on measles and key actions you can take to reduce the spread of measles infection in your setting. This version should now replace any other measles packs in use for these settings.
Invitation to participate in a New Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Training Resource pilot project with UKHSA
In 2023, the e-Bug programme within the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) ran a survey with teachers to inquire about their confidence in dealing with infection prevention and control (IPC) in schools post COVID-19 and to identify any gaps and support needed.1000 teachers from primary and secondary schools across England took part in the survey and one of the key findings was the need for teacher IPC training.
Following this, the e-Bug team together with colleagues from the UKHSA National IPC team and UKHSA Regional Health Protection teams have developed an IPC training resource for Early Years and educational settings (EYES). The training was developed with input from teachers and early years educators and aims to improve knowledge of IPC and increase confidence in managing infectious disease outbreaks within educational settings.
Therefore, I would like to invite you to take part in a pilot to test out this new IPC training resource developed for teachers, early years educators, and other staff working in EYES.
We believe your insights would be invaluable to this project.
What we need from you
You will be invited to complete the training online and will be provided with a link to access it via the e-Bug website.
The training is divided into 5 sections, which should take approximately one hour in total to complete. At the end of each section, you will be asked to complete a short quiz.
Once you have completed all sections, you will also be asked to complete a feedback form.
The training is designed to be flexible, so you will have 4 weeks to complete it.
Next steps
If you would like to take part, please email Rita Ochili at rita.ochili@ukhsa.gov.uk by 30th September.
If you would like to discuss this further before agreeing to participate or if you have any queries/concerns, please do not hesitate to contact Rita Ochili at rita.ochili@ukhsa.gov.uk
World AMR Awareness Week 2026 is taking place 18 – 24 November 2026!