Nursing - Child - BSc (Hons)

Are you a compassionate individual with an interest in caring for children? Our Children’s Nursing BSc (Hons) course expertly supports you in gaining the knowledge and skills to deliver professional and compassionate Family Centred Care.

The University is commissioned to deliver one of the UK’s largest cohorts of nurses every year, so you’ll benefit from studying at one of the country’s biggest nursing schools and be part of a community of student nurses in a diverse and vibrant city.

Successful completion of the course will make you eligible to apply for professional registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).

What's covered in the course?

Our aim is to develop you into a graduate nurse who is able to work flexibly across a range of settings and meet the health needs of the whole person throughout their lifespan. We will work with you on your development to help you become a skilled, knowledgeable, emotionally intelligent nurse, able to lead and co-ordinate compassionate, evidence-based, person- and family-centred care while working as an integral member of interdisciplinary teams. 

The university-based elements of the first two years of your course are integrated, with all fields of nursing working together. In your final year, the theory you learn will be specific to child nursing. You will study five modules each year. In year one, you will complete a year-long practice module which will prepare and support you to develop your confidence and competence in practice as you work towards independently leading and co-ordinating care.  

In your first year, you will gain theoretical and practice knowledge to develop a range of key skills. This will include: exploring the evidence that underpins person- and family-centred care; professional values; self-leadership; and the role of the registered nurse. Second year modules will further enhance your first-year learning and explore evidence-based complex care incorporating a wide range of research, skills, team leadership and principles of co-ordinating care. During your third year you will continue build on your previous learning and develop proficiency in child nursing. The modules you study will develop you as a leader who uses research-informed critical thinking to co-ordinate care, supervise other health professionals and gain confidence in the safe management of medication. You will also have access to personal tuition throughout the course which will enrich your learning experiences and will enable to reflect meaningfully on your practice and the development of your individual field identity. 

Your practice placements will be specific to your field, child nursing, throughout the three years. To help you become a more rounded nurse, you will also have opportunities to learn across the four fields of nursing. Your placement learning experiences may be within community, hospital or home environment settings and at a location anywhere within the West Midlands and potentially into neighbouring counties. While on placement you will be supported, supervised and assessed by practice and academic staff to develop your knowledge and skills.  

We are committed to providing excellent, innovative, learning, teaching and assessment experiences through the use of technology, which we use to enhance your learning, through lectures, seminars, skills simulation and virtual learning. Engaging with practice partners and service users is also integral to our approach.

Our BSc (Hons) Nursing course has been designed to comply with the new Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) standards (2018) meaning that successful completion of this course makes you eligible to apply and be entered onto the NMC register in one of the four fields of nursing: Adult, Child, Learning Disabilities or Mental Health. 

Why Choose Us?

• Birmingham is one of the UK’s most diverse cities outside of London, which provides you with a wide variety of experience that will be valuable to take forward into your future career
• Opportunities to go abroad, if this is something you would like to explore during your time studying with us
• Our strong partnerships with local employers result in fantastic employability. Over 99% of our Nursing graduates are in work or further study within six months of graduation (DLHE 2016/17)
• You will study at our recently extended £71 million City South Campus, complete with real-life hospital environments and simulation equipment so you can practice your practical skills at all times – not just on placement.
• We offer two intakes a year in January and September so that you can start at the right time for you. Contact our Admissions team to find out more
• Strong links with some of the largest NHS Trusts in the country, including University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham Women’s Children`s Hospital and many others, enabling you to build a network of invaluable contacts and gain valuable experience
• Real-world placements are supplemented by our Virtual Case Creator specialist software whilst on campus, enabling you to learn valuable observation, analytic, diagnostic, problem-solving and decision-making skills in an online simulated environment
• Student finance - have you already had a student loan to study an undergraduate degree but would like to do a second degree in nursing, midwifery or the allied health professions? You may still be eligible for funding.

We now recruit to the values of the NHS constitution. This influences our selection criteria and especially the values we are seeking to be demonstrated in both your application and interview, which we view as essential in any individual involved in patient care.

120 UCAS tariff points

The entry requirements here show our standard UCAS tariff points. However we review applications on a case by case basis and so some flexibility may be possible.

Essential Requirements

Other qualifications:

Qualifications that are not listed will be considered on an individual basis.

Further guidance on tariff points can be found on the UCAS website.

International candidates:

Those who meet residency/academic requirements of UK students but whose language is not English will need to hold IELTS with an overall score of at least 7.0.

In addition

• You must provide evidence of having been in general education for a minimum of 10 years.
• You must provide evidence of study within the last five years.
• No offers are made without a face-to-face interview.
• All offers are subject to satisfactory Occupational Health Clearance, Disclosure and Barring Service report and, registration with Independent Safeguarding Authority.
• You should be aware that qualifications, personal statement, interview and references all form part of the selection criteria for this course.

I really want to become a nurse but do not meet your entry requirements. What advice can you give me?

• All applicants must meet our academic entry requirements in order to be considered for the course.
• If you don't have sufficient Level 2 and Level 3 qualifications we advise you to consider undertaking a course which will give you the opportunity to gain the correct entry criteria. For example, an access course in a health/science-related field at your local further education college. This course contains the right mix of level 3 and level 2 qualifications which allow you to access higher education.
• Alternatively, you could undertake the Open University K101 course, as long as you have the appropriate GCSE qualifications (as defined in our entry criteria) with another level 3 qualification.

Guidance for UK/EU students

UK and EU students applying for most undergraduate degree courses in the UK will need to apply through UCAS.

The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) is a UK organisation responsible for managing applications to university and college.

Applying through UCAS

Our advice for applying to a health care course

Learning Support Fund

From 1 November 2017 you may be able to apply for elements of the learning support fund if:

• you are studying a pre-registration healthcare course
• are studying in England and
• your course started on or after 1 August 2017

Visit NHS student services for more information

Course structure

The course is delivered using a modular approach and divides the course into manageable elements of study and practice learning opportunities.

The first year prepares you for further study and facilitates the understanding of the principles which underpin nursing. This is supported by numerous placement learning experiences.

In year two there is an increasing field-specific focus. Core modules help to contextualise nursing whilst Field Specific modules prepare you for placement experiences.

In year three all the modules are Field Specific but there are opportunities for shared learning with the other fields of nursing and you will complete placement experiences.

You'll experience a mixture of teaching, self-directed study and practice-based clinical placements, spending half of your time each year on placement.

Upon successful completion you will graduate with a BSc (Hons) Nursing degree worth 360 credits and be eligible to apply for Registered Nurse status with the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

Employment opportunities

Once qualified and registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council you can practice in the UK and many countries overseas. As a qualified nurse you could find yourself working within the NHS, the private sector, in the community, at GP surgeries, at schools, plus many more - the options are endless.

OpportUNIty

OpportUNIty: Student Jobs on Campus ensures that our students are given a first opportunity to fill many part-time temporary positions within the University. This allows you to work while you study with us, fitting the job around your course commitments. By taking part in the scheme, you will gain valuable experiences and employability skills, enhancing your prospects in the job market.

It will also allow you to become more involved in University life by delivering, leading and supporting many aspects of the learning experience, from administration to research and mentoring roles.

Our facilities

We are constantly investing in our estate and are currently in the process of spending £260 million on new learning facilities.

We boast up-to-date, innovative facilities that simulate the real situations that medical staff may come across.

These resources are essential in offering students a hands-on introduction to health and social care practice. Much of our teaching is carried out within our state-of-the-art, £30m Seacole Building, which houses cutting-edge learning facilities.

Take a virtual tour of our skills suites at Seacole

In a sector where new techniques are constantly being discovered, we work hard to ensure that students learn using the most up-to-date equipment available. These include a mock operating theatre and a cutting-edge radiography virtual clinical training facility, virtual ward and virtual case creator.

Hospital Ward

Our mock wards enable you to get a feel of what a ward is really like before you head out for your first placement. They contain ‘Sim Men’, which are demonstration dummies that develop ailments, allowing you to treat them as you would a real patient and build your confidence in reacting to the changing needs of patients.

The Hospital Ward can be adapted from a low care to high dependency care environment with the necessary monitoring equipment.

Part of the package is our SIM baby, SIM man and Mega code kid. There are also nursing manikins for fundamental skills teaching and various equipment to support essential skills teaching, such as blood pressure monitoring venepuncture and cannulation equipment.

Mary Seacole Library

The Seacole library, based at City South Campus, is one of the UK's largest specialist health education libraries. The state-of-the art facility offers an extensive range of range of information and reference materials set out in a relaxing environment, conducive to studying. There are comfortable seating areas, group study areas, a silent study area and private study rooms.

You will have access to all of the University’s libraries, including the main Kenrick Library on the City North Campus, which is open for almost 90 hours a week and holds more than 320,000 books, 2,000 print journals and carries more than 4,000 electronic journals online.

Computer Facilities

The Seacole building houses a large open access IT Suite which comprises 96 PCs, full colour printers, photocopiers and scanners. Our PCs use the latest Intel i5 core technology, all with:

• Fast (unrestricted) internet connectivity
• Ability to save files to USB, DVD and CD
• Microsoft Office software
• Research and statistical software
• Storage space which can be accessed from any PC across the University and from home

Our PCs are also designed to support students who may have difficulties with reading and writing, featuring specialised software with zooming/magnification and screen reading capabilities, which may also be customised for individual student needs.

The IT Suite offers extended opening hours and is supported by a specialist Open Access Assistant during term time. In addition to the open access PCs within the IT Suite, there are 12 networked student PCs available within Seacole library.