Bournemouth University (where I trained)has the following requirements for entry as a student midwife.
The Advanced Diploma course requires 7 GCSE's (Grade A-C), including Maths, English and a Science. You receive a bursary whilst on the Advanced Diploma course, but have no access to ordinary student finances.
The degree course has, I believe, normal degree style requirements (so A levels or equivalent.) The only difference between the substance of the courses was (whillst I was studying, anyway) that in the degree course you had to write a dissertation.
It is possible to study with small children, but you do need to be very dedicated and organised.
It is one of the best jobs in existence. I don't know what else to say. There is nothing I would rather do. It can be immensely rewarding, although also it can be very demoralising - to be honest a lot of it is personality. There is a lot of politics that goes on between midwives on the wards, which I loathe, and there is sometimes a vast gulf in the way one believes midwifery should be practised and the way you see it being practiced all around you. The pressure to conform is immense - I think it takes a very strong personality to stick up for what you believe in, in the face of "old school" opposition.
Probably many jobs are like this though?
I seem to recall another thread on this subject not long ago. Trying to remember the name, and where it was.