Nursing Studies (Registered Nurse Children's Nursing) BSc (Hons) – 2019 entry

Why choose this course

Surrey is one of the UK’s top universities for nursing, ranked 4th in the UK by the Complete University Guide 2019 and in the top 10 of The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2018.

Our child nursing course combines theory and practice, and is taught by a dedicated team of inspiring and passionate staff, all committed to taking the profession forward through research and innovation.

You will be challenged and supported throughout the course to become a highly competent children’s nurse. Upon graduation, you will be eligible to apply for professional registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).

What you will study

This course is firmly based on the philosophy of individualised care that meets the needs of the child or young person. You'll learn how to support and educate families to enable them to be involved in their child's care.

You will be supported to care for infants, children, young people and their families, from the neonate to the adolescent, in a variety of settings.

An important aspect of the course will be the opportunity for you to take part in simulated practice learning. As well as developing a range of clinical nursing skills, you will take part in simulations to explore many of the key principles within children’s nursing, such as communication, child development, ethical care principles and children’s rights, and to develop decision-making skills.

Registered practitioners: If you are a registered practitioner looking for an undergraduate programme to further your learning, please visit our continuing professional development page.

Professional recognition

BSc (Hons) - Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC)
Recognised by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) for the purpose of registration as a qualified nurse (child).

Careers and graduate prospects

We offer careers information, advice and guidance to all students whilst studying with us, which is extended to our alumni for three years after leaving the University.

Nursing is the largest healthcare profession in the country and nurses play a role in the delivery of most healthcare services.

Although many qualified nurses work in hospitals, they can also work in general practice surgeries, community settings, home healthcare, outpatient day surgeries, nursing homes, schools, mental health agencies, hospices, the military and industry.

Our nursing graduates have excellent employment prospects. Many of our graduates are first employed by the NHS Trust where they had their practice experience, before going on to further studies and employment opportunities.

Some nurses develop careers in education or research, promoting advances in many areas of healthcare and health promotion practice.

For more information about careers, visit the NHS careers website.

Study and work abroad

We give our students the opportunity to acquire international experience during their degrees by taking advantage of our exchange agreements with overseas universities or by completing a Professional Training placement abroad. In addition to the hugely enjoyable and satisfying experience, time spent abroad adds a distinctive element to your CV. Visit our global exchanges pages to check where you can go.

Student life

Are you curious about life as a nursing student? Read our ‘Week in the life’ feature to discover what a typical week looks like for a first-year nursing student.

Placements

All nursing programmes consist of 50 per cent theory and 50 per cent practice time. The practice component is gained within clinical placement areas.

You’ll gain the majority of your practice experience within a specific locality in Surrey, Sussex, North Hampshire or East Berkshire. You’ll spend time in the safe environment of our Simulation Suite before going on placement, and will only go out to nurse patients and clients when you have satisfactorily completed instruction in essential clinical skills.

Placement experiences may be within NHS, private or charity organisations, and will include children’s units within acute hospitals, as well as working with children and families within their own homes and care settings within the community.

As you progress through the programme and your skills and confidence develop, you’ll be encouraged to perform increasingly complex activities in practice, until you are considered by your mentors and teachers to be competent for registration at the end of your third year.

Further information about localities and accommodation

We’ll provide you with further information about localities and accommodation opportunities within each of the localities at the start of the course and during your local induction to the practice environments.

University accommodation is usually available for the first year of your programme.

Clinical-practice placements commence in your first year, so you may need to travel to practice placements some distance away from Guildford while still living in University accommodation.

From the start of the second year, you’ll need to find your own accommodation. Lots of our students find that it is advantageous at this point to move to their allocated locality. This lets you travel to and from placements easily at low cost, and makes it easier to get to placements for the start times of shifts (which can be as early as 7am) and back home when they finish (which can be after 9pm), and attend night duty (which is a requirement of the programme).

The accommodation provision varies between the localities. Students who don’t live locally often organise privately-rented flat-sharing or house-sharing if they want to live within the locality in which their placement happens.

The theory component of the programme is taught on the University campus in Guildford for all students regardless of the locality they are assigned to for the duration of the three-year programme.

Process for allocating students to localities

You’ll be emailed a locality-allocation form around six weeks before you start the course. Once you have completed and returned the locality-allocation form, we’ll consider your allocation to a locality.

It’s important you return the form by the deadline on the form. There are limited placements within each locality, so we distribute students across the localities to make sure everyone gets a high-quality practice experience.

We prioritise students when allocating localities, and consider the following:

• Sponsored students are placed within the locality where the sponsoring Trust has placements.
• Students with dependants are placed in the locality nearest to their home address, as far as capacity allows.
• Students living in their own homes (or the parental home) at the start of the programme are placed in a locality as near to their home address as possible, as far as capacity allows.
• Students who opt to live in University accommodation are allocated to the nearest possible locality to their address, dependant on capacity and availability.

Placements may still be some distance from your home, and you will need be expected to travel to placements within a commutable distance of the allocated locality in order to meet the practice component of the nursing course.

There are limited opportunities to change your allocated locality, but this depends upon capacity at the preferred locality.

Student placement localities

We have a broad range of excellent placements across Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire and East Berkshire.

You’ll be allocated to a distinct area within this large region and become a member of a community of healthcare practitioners. We refer to these distinct areas as ‘localities’.

There are eight localities serving children’s nursing courses at the University of Surrey. Each includes acute hospital placements, community-based placements and independent-sector placements. These placements are what give our students practical experience.

Each locality has a strong community of healthcare practitioners who work together to provide a high standard of care to children, young people and their families and carers. You’ll soon become familiar with the areas of your placements, and you’ll be well supported by mentors in your practice.

Many of our students choose to find their first post within their locality after registration.

Although the majority of placements take place within the assigned locality region, on occasion, students may be allocated a placement further afield. The School of Health Sciences is committed to continually growing its placement network to provide the very best experience for students. An indicative list of our main student placement providers can be found below: