nurses…

[neroforte]

hi! i’m a 16 year old, currently trying to figure out what to do with my life lol. i am interested in becoming a nurse, specifically a children’s nurse! i was wondering if A) my plan (below) sounds viable, and B) if people could give me their experiences and journeys into this job.

my plan:
step 1 • do 2, level 2 and level 3, qualifications at open uni (i can’t go to college due to not getting enough gcse’s), in child development and biology courses
step 2 • get a job in healthcare, just so i can show that i have some sort of experience in a hospital
step 3 (part A) • do an honours at open uni, in children and young adult nursing, which says i must be working in a relevant environment, and have the support of my employer.
step 4 (part B) • OR, do a nursing apprenticeship, but i don’t know much about this route.
please and thank you!

@WorraLiberty

Whereabouts do you live?

I live East London/Essex and honestly, employers are screaming out for workers now.

My 18yr old DS needed a job before he goes off to Uni in October. He's applied for 7 jobs ranging from coffee shops to supermarkets, to the local cinema and he's been interviewed and accepted for every single one of them!

These places are VERY short staffed due to Covid because they would typically be filled with foreign workers who have gone home.

south east england, about 3 hours away from london. thank you tho!

Hi Op.
Well when I trained they had just removed the diploma and made it a degree only profession so I had to do the traditional route of a levels (or equivalent) followed by university.

Now due to nurses shortages there are new ways of getting into nursing. There is the traditional route of university (the downside to this is it is three years long with unpaid placements, but you have set periods for academia and set periods for clinical placements and learning). There is the paid nursing associates route (2 years paid), where you can then top up another two years to become a registered nurse (4 years in total but you get paid a decent wage throughout, however you have to do you academic work and placements at the same time so you have to have good time management to juggle it all). Then I believe there is now the nursing apprenticeship. I don’t know too much about this one but as far as I’m aware it takes 3-5 years to complete but again you are paid throughout and still come out with a degree at the end. It’s is very similar to the way they used to train nurses, but still come out with the required degree (and again good time management skills and commitment needed as may be the longest route). As far as I’m aware you need to be 18 to enroll in any of these training programmes, but your trust/college may offer a nurse cadet programme, accessible from 16+, where you start working on the wards and just learn the basics like feeding, assisting with drinks, filing, paperwork, learning the routine of a ward whilst gaining relevant entry level qualifications.

I would suggest you speak to your local college and say the end goal is to become a children’s nurse, how can I get there? What courses can you offer to ensure I meet the entry requirements for training courses?

I would also maybe speak to your local trusts recruitment department as they may be running career/recruitment days (probably virtual at the moment due to covid) but where you can speak to people within the trust about accessing their internal training courses (paid) for nursing.

They are crying out for nurses and although the academic requirements seem to be ever increasing, if you are committed and passionate enough and it is truely what you want to do with your life, you will get there with hard work and determination. It’s a tough job, but I personally couldn’t see myself doing anything else!! Good luck!! X

My advice would be join the nhs as an hca and go through the open university. The nhs will put you through all the courses you need from level 2/3 and up. I am not sure how you apply in England but in N.I a waiting list for band 3 appears about once a yr on the hscni website . This goes trustwide .

At 16 you may struggle to get certain healthcare jobs because of the risks to you from patients and the restrictions on working hours.
I would recommend talking to your local colleges about what access or foundation courses they do. Some also have childcare facilities.

hello everyone! wanted to say thank you for the well wishes and good lucks. i spoke to my friend who got into college without all of her gcse’s, and asked her how she did it (she goes to the college i was looking to go to too!!), and she said that she applied, and at the interview she explained that she had missed a lot of school (due to complex reasons), they were sent her predicted grades and if she doesn’t pass she’ll resit english and maths, but she’s basically guaranteed her place, so hopefully they’ll accept my application, and i’ll be able to explain the situation! i also always was told by my parents that i couldn’t go to university, it’s too expensive etc, but looking at it, the repayment thing is no more expensive than open uni, and seems way better.
also, at college, if i do an ‘early years and care’ alevel, then i get 380 hours placement. i assume this would be able to be used as experience when i apply to uni??

If your situation was that you had a baby then they should be able to help!

Is there a local college offering a health and social care btec near you? You'd probably start at level 1 or 2 and they'd put you through your GCSEs that your missing while you work for your A level equivalents. You could then go straight onto a uni course for children's nursing.

My two pence. I had to do an access course (also in Scotland) to get the level of maths required to progress to uni and then started in first year at uni, we didn’t go into second year so it would have been 4 years all in. I (unplanned) fell pregnant half way through first year and had to give up my training as I didn’t have enough support to return to uni full time and full time placements

I got a job as a HCSW and now all of my children are at school I am now doing my nursing through the OU. I had to have been in post for 2 years (have been for 5 now) and have SCQF level 5 in maths and English. I work 26 hours per week and only need to do 26 whilst on placement, I get my normal wage. The down side is how competitive it is to get in with this route there are only 5 in my board doing it this way.

My advice? Think about if it is what you really want, often your idea of what nursing is like and the reality are hugely different. Have you got support for your child to be studying full time or working and studying? It’s very difficult! I would advise getting a job in care first to work out if it’s what you really want

I would speak to colleges and universities admissions about the best way to get ‘in’. Nursing and nurse training has changed a lot in recent years and continues to evolve at a fairly rapid pace. The curriculum changed quite significantly a year or so ago. How people got into it even 5 yrs or more ago isn’t likely to be that relevant. Plus, the route for school leavers and mature students is very different. I’m not trying to discourage you, more state that advice on here is likely to be outdated or irrelevant to your circumstance. Mature students can get around their missing or lacking GCSE/A levels with access courses and the like but they aren’t available to your age group. You may be best going for resits. You need some good advice from someone who knows how it works now. Best of luck.

@TwinsTrollsAndHunz you’re right about how quickly it changes! It just changed again when I started in October as they want you to be able to work as any kind of nurse and prescribe etc!

Also when I applied to the OU as well as my personal statement I had to submit a 500 word piece on a set question with references!

That sounds like some great info from your friend. Colleges are often more flexible than people imagine!

I'm really glad you've realised that your parents have a lot of misconceptions about student finance. Martin Lewis has an excellent explanation of how it all works on his website www.moneysavingexpert.com/students/student-loans-tuition-fees-changes/

Because you have a baby, you'll be classed as an independent student, which means your parents' income isn't taken into account and you'll receive the full amount of student finance www.ucas.com/finance/student-finance-england/finance-independent-students

As a nursing student you can also access additional non-repayable funding from the NHS www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/career-planning/study-and-training/considering-or-university/financial-support-university

As a parent you can get a childcare grant www.gov.uk/childcare-grant/what-youll-get
and a Parents Learning Allowance
www.gov.uk/parents-learning-allowance

Universities also offer bursaries for students from low income households e.g.
www.kent.ac.uk/parents/applying-for-student-finance/scholarships-and-bursaries

So in summary, you could be looking at
£9,250 Tuition Fee Loan to pay for your course per year
£9,488 Maintenance Loan to pay living costs per year
Up to 85% of your childcare costs (maximum £179.62 a week for a single child or £307.95 a week if you have more than one) in Childcare Grant
Up to £1,821 per year Parents’ Learning Allowance
Child Tax Credit
Child Benefit
NHS training grant of £5000 per year
NHS parental support payment of £2000 per year

• bursary from your university depending on which uni you go to and their eligibility criteria

Of those, only the tuition fee loan and maintenance loan are repayable - and as per the Martin Lewis link repayments are linked to how much you earn not how much you owe.

also, at college, if i do an ‘early years and care’ alevel, then i get 380 hours placement. i assume this would be able to be used as experience when i apply to uni??

You will need to check with each potential university which qualifications they accept. Some things to note about the course you've mentioned are

• it's aimed at people who want to work in a children's nursery, not people who want to become nurses!
• it's not an A Level - it sounds like it's a Level 3 qualification, which can be 'equivalent' to an A Level but these are not all equally accepted.
• you can get experience outside of your course - the college will have a careers department who are used to helping people get voluntary experience

Before embarking on any course, make sure it will meet the entry requirements (check the websites!), which can vary from uni to uni, and if you're even slightly unsure then email the admissions department.

it could be worth getting in touch with the prince’s trust. one of my friends works for them running four week long workshops where people get experience in a hospital environment. a lot of the time there’s normally an apprenticeship or job offered at the end.

Well done on your researching - uni loans are good and an affordable option ( if your parents don't earn over the threshold for them to have to contribute - otherwise if they can't afford then you will have to manage on less). My tip would be look at the websites of and contact all the recruitment departments of all your local big hospital trusts, see if they are having recruitment open days and go along and talk to them.

hello everyone! just wanted to update and say i applied for college and have got an interview with a place held for me!! i’m so happy since i thought i applied too late and also didn’t have enough qualifications!

@neroforte

hello everyone! just wanted to update and say i applied for college and have got an interview with a place held for me!! i’m so happy since i thought i applied too late and also didn’t have enough qualifications!

Well done!! Best of luck with it all

It sounds too complicated. Get a job in healthcare preferably at a hospital, in paediatrics then even better. Do the training available, apply for trainee nursing associate or nurse apprenticeship. I personally would not do open uni when the possibility of working in a hospital would offer much much more!

Just saw your update, fantastic news. It will take time but if you want it you will get there!