To ask how she can become a pediatric nurse with no GCSE's?

[AuntieNurse85]

Niece 16 who I have fostered for 2 months and will foster for the forseeable. Didn't go to school for past 2 years as mother was neglectful and was more interested in boyfriends and alcohol than driving her to school which she couldn't get to alone. Niece has coped amazingly well with this and is keen to focus on her education despite having no GCSE's. She wants to become a pediatric nurse and is very passionate about it and says it's all she wants to do.

She has a place on an "Entry to Care" foundation course at the local college where she will take English and Math's GCSE alongside studying health and social. Originally we read that she could progress from foundation to Level 1, 2, then 3 and either get an apprenticeship in the subject or that uni's will accept her having completed Level 3. However niece has been looking online (As I said, she is v v passionate about it and I'm so proud of her. I want to make sure she takes the best route into it.) and has said that the vast majority of uni's are demanding 5 GCSE's and at least 2 A Level's. And apprenticeships apparently are scarse and require more and more each year and she's saying she doesn't want to work hard only to be turned away from work in 4/5 years because the requirements have changed.

So, what's the best route through? A friend has suggested scrapping the Health and Social care foundation and instead having her study 5 GCSE's this year. However college only offers GCSE courses to 16-18 students who've already took the exam and failed. She's only being offered English and Maths there. The foundation college course is only 3 days a week as well and me and niece both agree that those other 2 days need to be filled up with studying. I want her to get those 3 other GCSE's (esp a science) but I'm not sure the best way. Is she best of staying on the course for E+M and using the 2 free days a week studying for 3 others? If so how can we sort out the 3 others? Or is it worth scrapping the course (my friend has described it as a dead end course and says college is lying about finishing level 3 being enough for her to get into uni/an apprenticeship when she has no A levels) and having her spend the next year studying 5 GCSE's intensely and then progressing onto A levels? She is v clever and determined so I have no doubt she'll pass. Would like to request nobody replies saying how she shouldn't bother because "the NHS is unstable" or "the pay is shit" as we've both dealth with it in real life and I don't want to hear it. This is her dream job.

Advice much appreciated. As I said earlier, I want to make sure I'm doing everything I can to help her achieve her dream. I don't feel she should have to settle for less. Not sure if relevent but feel someone may ask, I work full time in an office and am also a single parent to a toddler who is in nursery. Finances aren't great but I can scrape together a fair bit for studies.

Ring the university, talk to admissions tutor. Some are still looking for applicants for this year.

Also forgot to mention that many universities offer additional support to looked after children / care leavers making applications in case you're not already aware of this.

See UCAS and Propel.

she's 16!

I'm not sure she's a LAC though she's not S20 from what the OP posted - it's a family arrangement - her SW would be able to sort that but I don't think she's accommodated by the LA

Propel is a great site.

Guessing you are in Greater Manchester based on the college you linked. Is Stockport College an option. They do pre-entry tests for children who did not take GCSE, and offer GCSEs in English, Maths, Biology, Psychology, Sociology which would be perfect for nursing.

stockport.ac.uk/courses/gcse-full-time-programme-2

@Spaceprincess

I don't think she'd be ready for 2 years or so yet.

When she is, I'd definitely recommend making an application by the equal consideration deadline (usually January, check UCAS website nearer the time).

Adreamaday you star - that would be a really good option for the OP to look at!

@ghostylovesheets

It wasn't entirely clear from OP's post, but if she had a care order, we'd give her any additional support that we would give care leavers / applicants just about to leave care.

The simplest and one that will be local will be doing her math and English Olevels and the extended diploma as the level 3 in this will give her the relevant UCAS points to get into university.She could then take a gap year and get paediatric experience as and HCA or go straight into nursing.
Doing 5 o levels then A levels at 16 is impractical and finding somewhere for her to do the o levels very difficult.
So there is still time for her to enrol in college for a September start,students will be the same age as friendships at this age are important.
I wish you both luck.

Do access courses still exist? Could she do that which I understand leads straight to uni.

Brilliant Emma - I'm glad Uni's are so much more supportive of care leavers now - some even pay their course fees! (hint hint - and idea to take back to management!) as a LA we give them £2000 which is bugger all really for the entire life of a degree

I'm going to cry if anyone else says 'access course' - sorry it's been a looooong day!

No advice, I just wanted to add paediatric nurses are some of the most amazing people in the world. It's great you're helping her fulfil her dreams, that's the kind of nurses we need

finding somewhere for her to do the o levels very difficult.

Impossible I'd say as O levels haven't existed for over 30 years!

OMG that makes me feel old - I did O Levels !

Would she consider the newly introduced (as in within last couple of years!) route? Initially you start as effectively a junior healthcare assistant and progress through? I'm sorry I don't have the full information about it but if you google your local hospital Trusts lots of them have open days now to try and recruit, also have a look on NHS Jobs. The added advantage is the clinical skills you gain from the off set, developing confidence on a ward, training whilst earning and usually there's a job guaranteed if you pass

@Emma090 I wasn’t necessarily suggesting that route. It’s just that the OP mentioned John Moores earlier and I was saying they seem open to working with students to find a route that works for them.

OP here. Had some weirdness with my orginal account.

Adreamaday My goodness you are an absolute bloody god send! Stockport is actually really ideal for us but I didn't think it would offer anything different to the other one. Have told DN about the GCSE courses and she is adamant she wants to go down that route rather than foundation. From what I've read students take English, Maths, Biology and pick a 4th between sociology or psychology? It's not clear whether that's the case but might enquire about DN doing both so she's got the 5. A friend of mine once referred to 5 as being the "magic number" for GCSE's. But it's not the end of the world if she only does 4. She is v bright (she went to centre where they had her do some past GCSE papers a while ago and got what would be a 7 in English and a 6 in maths which is amazing considering her circumstances.) so I have no doubt she'll cope.

If they let her do the 5 GCSE's then we are laughing. Looks like she'll then be able to do this:

stockport.ac.uk/courses/health-social-care-btec-level-3-national-foundation-diploma-1

If they do insist she can't do both psychology and sociology and instead has to pick one then she's only doing 4 but that's still decent. She'll be able to get onto this:

stockport.ac.uk/courses/btec-level-2-first-certificate-health-and-social-care-2

Have sent them an email enquiring. Feel so relieved and happy for DN. We are very lucky Stockport will likely let her take GCSE's. Don't get me wrong, it's fab that foundation is there so that every child can be in education no matter ability or circumstances but DN is very passionate about what she wants to do and I don't think foundation would have been an easy way through for her.

@ghostyslovesheets I said Access because it may well take the DN more than 2 years to complete her GCSEs as she may not be able to do them at college, and depending on her level of ability it may take her more than 2 years to do them via an online provider (they’re not that expensive OP)

And yes, she does need Science GCSEs, if she goes down the A Level route, and even if she does Access or some other route, because what do you think is Nursing is And DN would need them for A Levels. If the DN can’t manage GCSE Science then Nursing is not for her...

years back, one of my parents studied biology gcse and then took an access course (both at night school) before getting onto a nursing degree at a local uni

Before that, my parent had worked in entry level care jobs for decades.

Some work experience, volunteering, or a Saturday job in a hospital/nursing home /other care setting will probably look good on her cv

@ghostyslovesheets 18 is not necessarily to young for Access, a girl at the Access open event at my local college is 18 and got a place. She is also doing access to health.

The further education (college study) foundation course that she is interested in sounds the right route for her to be able to eventually progress into higher education (university) as she currently has no GCSEs, which means she doesn’t have the qualifications to be able to study at a higher level. Not only will the course give her a taste of studying health and social care it will allow her to study GCSE English and Maths which really needs to be her main focus at the stage as she doesn’t have these qualifications which are a requirement for entry to university (some courses do require GCSE science but this can be taken at a later date if needed as will be too much for her to study at this time).

Although the course talks about being part time don’t under estimate this as she’ll have course work to do as well as revising to pass the exams.

What you also need to find out is if she successfully passes the course and gets the GCSEs what health and social care courses does the college offer to allow her to progress to higher education (university)? as she will need to do a level 3 further education course to be able to go on to university as she won’t be able (I’m assuming) to study A Levels at college which the level 3 further education courses are equivalent to and is accepted by the universities as long as the student has the GCSE Maths and English.

So...

1. First and foremost speak to the careers advisor at the college and ask them which healthcare course the further education foundation course progresses to (she needs to eventually get a level 3 further education course along with the GCSEs).

1. Check the top 3 universities she’s interested in entry requirements and look at the A Level equivalent requirements to check that the further education college course she eventually is able to progress to is accepted.

1. Don’t worry about work placement at this stage unless it’s required as part of her college course as she has a long way ahead of her, however it might be good to get some work experience to see if it’s the career for her. Also at this stage I’d probably not be too specific about which nursing discipline to go into as she still has a few years to get to that stage.

Here’s a link to understanding further education (college) and the progression to higher education (university) or ask the college careers advisor to explain the progression..... www.careeralchemy.co.uk/foundation-learning.html#

@GhostIsAGoodBoi The access course thst gets you into nursing at my local college only asks you to have maths & english.

I'm starting Access Biomedical in September and I only needed maths and English... although I do have science GCSEs.

@AuntieNurse12 sorry missed your update.

Looking at the Stockport course it says she’ll need to sit a test prior to being accepted as I’m assuming she didn’t sit her GCSEs. To be honest I think she will struggle with doing too many GCSEs at once and may find it overwhelming. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with going down the foundation course route and it’s absolutely 100% correct that universities accept a level 3 further education course as these are equivalent to the A level requirements.

I’m saying all of this with prior knowledge as a university midwifery student.....

@GhostIsAGoodBoi I did an access to HE which required GCSE maths and English and didn’t need GCSE science for university not all unis require science as it’s included as part of the access course.