Help!!!! Mature student - nursing

Hi everyone, I'm new here and I wonder if you can help me please.

I am a 50 year old woman and a mature student. I am interested in nursing as a career path, but I have children of primary school age, so I have been discouraged until now. I am currently studying Functional Skills in Maths and English at The Manchester College. I have completed my level 1 studies, both with passes and I am about to start my level 2 studies.

Is it possible if you could advise me the best route to take to gain experience in Nursing? With the ultimate goal of working as a paediatric nurse in the NHS. I have looked into apprenticeships, college courses and university courses but I am unsure which route would be best for me to take?

Would an Access to Nursing course from a college be the most beneficial way to gain experience at my current level or would you suggest another route?

I am interested in paediatric nursing but would like to gain experience in all areas that would benefit me.

Hi everyone, I'm new here and I wonder if you can help me please.

I am a 50 year old woman and a mature student. I am interested in nursing as a career path, but I have children of primary school age, so I have been discouraged until now. I am currently studying Functional Skills in Maths and English at The Manchester College. I have completed my level 1 studies, both with passes and I am about to start my level 2 studies.

Is it possible if you could advise me the best route to take to gain experience in Nursing? With the ultimate goal of working as a paediatric nurse in the NHS. I have looked into apprenticeships, college courses and university courses but I am unsure which route would be best for me to take?

Would an Access to Nursing course from a college be the most beneficial way to gain experience at my current level or would you suggest another route?

I am interested in paediatric nursing but would like to gain experience in all areas that would benefit me.

An access course is level 3 and will give you the theoretical side (like A levels) to prepare you for a nursing degree or degree apprenticeship; it's also the route most commonly taken by mature students such as yourself. If you want to gain practical experience, any work with children (other than your own) would be great - I'd suggest talking to your local hospital about paid/volunteer roles within the trust in particular the children's unit. I'd particularly recommend paid work within a local children's unit - the shift patterns *may be an issue, but then you'll need to do shift patterns as part of placements for your nursing degree.

Hi everyone, I'm new here and I wonder if you can help me please.

I am a 50 year old woman and a mature student. I am interested in nursing as a career path, but I have children of primary school age, so I have been discouraged until now. I am currently studying Functional Skills in Maths and English at The Manchester College. I have completed my level 1 studies, both with passes and I am about to start my level 2 studies.

Is it possible if you could advise me the best route to take to gain experience in Nursing? With the ultimate goal of working as a paediatric nurse in the NHS. I have looked into apprenticeships, college courses and university courses but I am unsure which route would be best for me to take?

Would an Access to Nursing course from a college be the most beneficial way to gain experience at my current level or would you suggest another route?

I am interested in paediatric nursing but would like to gain experience in all areas that would benefit me.

Hello @clarkeychez

I hope you're well! Well done for passing your level 2 studies
I think you should choose whatever would be best suited for you, in terms of childcare and accessibility for you. As you don't want to be stressed trying to study & figure out childcare at the same time. I think apprenticeships or an access to nursing course would allow for some flexibility and would be beneficial! Apprenticeships are particularly best, as you can still make earn some sort of income at the same time!

Nursing at university, to obtain a degree also has many benefits as most universities design their courses so that once you're completed you can register and practice to become a nurse! @Tracey_W do you have any other words of advice that could help?

Wishing you all the best in your new journey
Jade
Cov Uni Student Ambassador

Hi everyone, I'm new here and I wonder if you can help me please.

I am a 50 year old woman and a mature student. I am interested in nursing as a career path, but I have children of primary school age, so I have been discouraged until now. I am currently studying Functional Skills in Maths and English at The Manchester College. I have completed my level 1 studies, both with passes and I am about to start my level 2 studies.

Is it possible if you could advise me the best route to take to gain experience in Nursing? With the ultimate goal of working as a paediatric nurse in the NHS. I have looked into apprenticeships, college courses and university courses but I am unsure which route would be best for me to take?

Would an Access to Nursing course from a college be the most beneficial way to gain experience at my current level or would you suggest another route?

I am interested in paediatric nursing but would like to gain experience in all areas that would benefit me.

Hi everyone, I'm new here and I wonder if you can help me please.

I am a 50 year old woman and a mature student. I am interested in nursing as a career path, but I have children of primary school age, so I have been discouraged until now. I am currently studying Functional Skills in Maths and English at The Manchester College. I have completed my level 1 studies, both with passes and I am about to start my level 2 studies.

Is it possible if you could advise me the best route to take to gain experience in Nursing? With the ultimate goal of working as a paediatric nurse in the NHS. I have looked into apprenticeships, college courses and university courses but I am unsure which route would be best for me to take?

Would an Access to Nursing course from a college be the most beneficial way to gain experience at my current level or would you suggest another route?

I am interested in paediatric nursing but would like to gain experience in all areas that would benefit me.

There's a student on my BSc Child Nursing course who is 56 and has children in secondary school, so you are not alone in this.

People have already suggested this, but the best thing to do if you don't have A-levels is to take an "Access to Higher Education" course. I did one specifically for "Child Nursing and Midwifery", but it may be called something different depending on the college you want to go to.

After the access course, you can apply for university on a BSc Child Nursing course. Most of the universities I applied for asked for 15 Distinctions and 30 Merits on your access course, which isn't too bad compared to other courses, you'll also need Maths and English GCSEs.

They "may" ask for experience and I use "may" here because I applied just after covid, so it wasn't a mandatory requirement at the time. Regardless, I gained experience through volunteering for a first aid charity and pulled from that experience in the interview. You could maybe train as a HCA on a ward as a few people on my course were (and still are) HCAs on Adult/Child wards.

Let me know if you have any more questions!

Hi, me again 👋🏼 can I also ask, do you think if I also studied any science subjects, it would be an advantage too or would that not matter? Thanks again in advance. ❤️

Hi I am currently 52 and just finishing year one of my nursing degree. I did an Access to Health Care (Level 3) last year at my local college which most Unis will take as entrance providing you have Maths and English (GCSE or equivalent). The unis vary on what grades they like but you can easily check with the uni you are interested in. I did work as a HCSW to gain some experience and that has been invaluable. My kids are grown up but I am with women of all ages with young children. It is challenging for them. The unis generally will not take into account preferences - for instance we were told you can travel up to 90mins in each direction to placement and there is no preferential treatment for those with young children (or without cars!) this means that a 12.5 hour shift plus travel is a very very long day. However, most placements (not all) are quite accommodating. You do have to work a mix of shifts, including nights and weekends but again most placements are quite good at working round family commitments. I love the course and I am committed to getting this done but there are days I feel my age and I am exhausted!
The other option could be a Nursing Apprenticeship - it takes a bit longer, but you are paid. You would need to be working for an employer that would support you through this.
Hope that helps a bit ? Good luck!!

If you have your maths and English then I would just do your access course.

I'm 52 and I start uni in September doing dual registration.

I did my access course when I tured 50. I also gave birth to twins that year, so I deferred for a year but also gave birth to a 2nd set of twins last Yr December so I deffered again.

My Uni does take consideration of your family situation. I have 5 kids 4 and under. Nothing is stopping me from doing this degree.

Good luck.