Interview with Mrs Libby Dowling

Interview with Mrs Libby Dowling, School Nurse

“It became very obvious, even before I came to the interview, that this was a school that looked after the whole child.”

Not many school nurses start their new job during a global pandemic. Mrs Libby Dowling endeared herself to staff and students alike by giving out moraleboosting chocolate in those last strange days before the school shut down.

What were you doing before you came to Queen’s?

Before I came to Queen’s I was a Senior Clinical Advisor at Diabetes UK and before that, I was a Paediatric Diabetes Specialist Nurse in the NHS. One of the campaigns I was involved with at Diabetes UK was called ‘Make the Grade’. We ended up changing the law to put a legal duty on schools to look after children with medical conditions, which hadn’t happened before.

So why Queen’s?

Diabetes fascinates me, both the physical side of it and the emotional side of living with a long term condition. But I’d been at Diabetes UK a long time and I was moving further and further away from looking after children and I missed it. When I saw the advert for the College nurse at Queen’s, what really jumped out at me was the care for the children. It became very obvious, even before I came to the interview, that this was a school that looked after the whole child. Not just their exam results, or their attendance, or even just their health, but their emotional health too. I really loved that. And when I started the job, it just shines through and I think it’s an absolutely lovely atmosphere to be in.

What can we do to keep our children happy and healthy at the moment?

It is a weird situation, and I think the first thing we can do is not try to pretend it’s normal. I’ve been doing pastoral phone calls and I’ve been amazed at how resilient some of the pupils are, and how honest they’ve been about what they’re struggling with. They’re missing their friends and the school environment. But it’s also about being kind to ourselves. We need to ask ourselves: ‘How am I feeling?’ and not just try to get through it. I think it’s been very challenging for parents, who are probably trying to do their job from home, or they’ve been furloughed from their job, and also have to be the child’s teacher and that is tough. However, some parents are absolutely loving it, because they’ve having more contact with their children than before. That’s a nice thing that’s come out of lockdown – more family time.

We know you like chocolate. Do you have a favourite type of biscuit?

I do love a biscuit and generally anything chocolate goes down well. But, if I’m allowed to have two, I have another favourite, which is the humble custard cream.