Children’s Physiotherapy Services in Northamptonshire - Resources for Primary Schools

Children’s Physiotherapy Teams are based at Sudborough House, St Mary’s Hospital Kettering and Northampton General Hospital, where the majority of appointments take place. However, Physiotherapy can be accessed in a range of venues including educational settings, homes or place of day care as appropriate.Services are provided to children who require physiotherapy assessment, treatment and management for both long and short term conditions. Physiotherapy focuses on helping a child’s physical development, specifically gross motor skills (such as sitting, standing and walking, jumping) as well as his/her difficulties with balance and co-ordination. The Physiotherapists can also assess for specialised equipment (e.g. walking aids, standing frames) as required to assist with the child’s developmental abilities.  Physiotherapists work closely with the child’s parents/carers as well as health and education professionals to ensure the child’s needs are met appropriately. Parents/carers and relevant professionals (e.g. school staff) are taught suitable activities and exercises, handling and positioning skills to ensure the child benefits from appropriate therapy throughout his/her day in all settings (e.g. home, nursery, school). Initially, the child may be seen more frequently by the physiotherapist to assist caregivers to become competent and confident to carry out the recommended activities at home and education setting. The Physiotherapist’s role then progresses to one of monitoring the child’s development and updating activities accordingly, or discharging from the service if appropriate.

Eligibility and Referral

The Teams provide paediatric physiotherapy for children from birth up to school leaving age across Northamptonshire.      Referrals are accepted via the Referral Management Centre from Health and Education professionals. 

Purpose of the Primary School Resource Pack

The Children’s Physiotherapy Services at Northamptonshire Healthcare Foundation Trust and Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust have developed a resource pack for use with children in primary schools. This pack contains an exercise programme for school staff to carry out which aims to improve a child’s gross motor skills, balance and co-ordination difficulties. The programme of 10 exercises needs to be carried out on a daily basis at school for 15 to 20 minutes for 10 to 12 weeks.  At the end of this time, school staff should complete the Gross Motor Skills Developmental Checklist.  If the child scores ‘No’ for 4 or more items, please make a referral via the Referral Management Centre to the Children’s Physiotherapy Service attaching the completed Gross Motor Skills Developmental Checklist.  

• In order to access this pack, please e-mail the Local Offer team on [email protected] and they will e-mail on the documents. The documents are not suitable for adding to a website. 

  Please note, this pack is NOT intended for use with children with a confirmed diagnosis such as neurodisability (e.g. Cerebral Palsy) or a neuromuscular condition (e.g. Muscular Dystrophy).  These children will have specific programmes provided by their Physiotherapist. Please contact your local physiotherapy team if you have any questions, queries or concerns: