Nursing (Children's)
BSc (Hons)
Key facts
UCAS code
B708
Start dates
September 2023 / September 2024
Location
Course length
Full time: 3 years; previously qualified, post-experience nurses (except children's nurses) may complete in a shorter period, depending on entry credit
Department
Accreditation(s)
Approved by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC)
UCAS Tariff Points
112
Overview
Children's (or paediatric) nursing is a challenging but rewarding career. With empathy, sensitivity and excellent communication skills you are bound to succeed.
Our Children’s Nursing course prepares you to be a confident, professional practitioner, able to care for children and families within an ever changing health and social care environment.
You'll gain a wide variety of hospital and community practice experience throughout Oxfordshire. There are also specialist children’s nursing placements available in the surrounding counties. On completing our course, you could be caring for children and young people, across a range of health care specialisms in children’s nursing .
In line with the new Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) Future Nurse Standards (2018), our Children's Nursing curriculum has recently been re-developed. At our recent approval event (March 2020) we were commended by the NMC for our excellent partnership working with placement organisations and for the inclusion of a strong public health theme throughout the curriculum.
How to apply
Wherever possible we make our conditional offers using the UCAS Tariff. The combination of A-level grades listed here would be just one way of achieving the UCAS Tariff points for this course.
Standard offer
UCAS Tariff Points: 112
A Level: BBC
IB Points: 30
BTEC: DMM
Contextual offer
UCAS Tariff Points: 88
A Level: CCD
IB Points: 27
BTEC: MMM
Entry requirements
Specific entry requirements
A Level: Including one A Level or a comparable Level 3 qualification in a science subject (e.g. Physical Education, Biology, Chemistry, Maths, Physics, Psychology).
GCSE: Grade 4 (C) in English, Maths and Science. For English and Maths, Level 2 Functional Skills are accepted as alternatives to GCSEs.
Relevant experience (e.g. in a hospital) or a suitable indication of your interest in, and understanding of, the relevant healthcare profession.
Caring for vulnerable children and their families is very fulfilling but it is important to recognise that it can be emotionally challenging too. We find that students enjoy their course and are more successful if they have carefully considered these factors and reflected on their personal readiness to embark upon a children's nursing career prior to starting the course. We are happy to talk through any individual concerns or queries you may have.
Securing a place is subject to both a satisfactory DBS and an Occupational Health clearance. If neither clearance has been completed prior to enrolment or a DBS issue has been declared on application, then enrolment may not be possible.
If enrolment has been agreed, then continuation on the programme will be contingent on satisfactory clearances.
Please also see the University's general entry requirements.
Screening
All applicants will be screened for fitness to practise and a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check will be made.
Selection process
All Oxford Brookes University Health and Social Care Programmes conduct Value Based Recruitment (VBR). We recognise that values and attitudes have the greatest impact on the quality of people's care and their experiences.
VBR is a way of helping our Programme recruitment teams to assess the values, motives and attitudes of those who wish to work with people in health and social care settings. When we refer to values we mean, for example, the values included in the NHS constitution.
VBR focuses on 'how' and 'why' an applicant makes choices in how they act and seeks to explore reasons for their behaviour. Further details about the VBR framework can be found here.
All shortlisted applicants will be invited for an interview.
English language requirements
An IELTS score of 6.5 in all areas is required for ALL applicants whose first language is not English.
Please also see the University's standard English language requirements.
English requirements for visas
If you need a student visa to enter the UK you will need to meet the UK Visas and Immigration minimum language requirements as well as the University's requirements. Find out more about English language requirements.
Terms and Conditions of Enrolment
When you accept our offer, you agree to the Terms and Conditions of Enrolment. You should therefore read those conditions before accepting the offer.
Credit transfer
Many of our courses consider applications for entry part-way through the course for students who have credit from previous learning or relevant professional experience.
Find out more about transferring to Brookes. If you'd like to talk through your options, please contact our Admissions team.
Application process
Full time Home (UK) applicants
Apply through UCASInternational applicants
Apply direct to the UniversityFull time international applicants can also apply through UCAS
Tuition fees
Questions about fees?
Contact Student Finance on:
Tuition fees
Please note, tuition fees for Home students may increase in subsequent years both for new and continuing students in line with an inflationary amount determined by government. Tuition fees for International students may increase in subsequent years both for new and continuing students.
Oxford Brookes University intends to maintain its fees for new and returning Home students at the maximum permitted level.
Financial support and scholarships
All eligible nursing students on courses from September 2020 (new and continuing) will receive a payment of at least £5,000 a year which they will not need to pay back. For more information please visit https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/nhs-learning-support-fund
Additional costs
Please be aware that some courses will involve some additional costs that are not covered by your fees. Specific additional costs for this course are detailed below.
Learning and assessment
We have developed the nursing curriculum in partnership with:
- students
- clinical partners
- mentors
- service users
- carers.
Every year you will have placements in your field of practice, with some taught content specific to your nursing field. However, there is increasing specialisation as the course progresses. There is also a shift in focus on the complexity of nursing interventions, as indicated below.
- Year 1 focuses on communities, health and wellbeing, lifespan and values.
- Year 2 lets you explore specific nursing interventions, working in partnership with patients and their families to meet care outcomes.
- Year 3 focuses on complex care of people with multiple co-morbidities and the need for health and social care services to be integrated to promote optimal health outcomes.
You can also pursue a personal interest through a range of optional modules.
Study modules
Please note: As our courses are reviewed regularly as part of our quality assurance framework, the modules you can choose from may vary from those shown here. The structure of the course may also mean some modules are not available to you.
Learning and teaching
Your learning will include:
- experiential learning or practice learning
- mentoring, coaching and supervising
- active learning such as projects or role-play
- student-centred learning such as self-assessment, reading, or finding evidence
- online learning such as quizzes or specialist lectures
- use of technology, including social media, networking, mobile health (mHealth), or Electronic Patient Records (EPR)
- collaborative learning with other nursing students, other cultures, teams and agencies
- problem-based/solution-focused learning.
Simulation Based Education (SBE) takes place in a safe learning environment. These look like a real clinic or hospital and allows you to role play in clinical situations.
Placements can include:
- working within community health care teams (supported by a district nurse, health visitor or school nurse)
- working in acute settings within local Trusts.
Assessment
Assessment methods used on this course
As with all pre-registration nursing courses, the BSc Nursing (Children's) course is made up of 50% theory and 50% practice.
All modules have an assessment component. We ask you to show how what you are learning enhances patient care.
Assessments can include:
- reflective essays
- presentations
- clinical examinations
- multiple choice examinations
- neighbourhood studies
- case studies.
You will be assessed for your practice learning during the Education in Nursing Practice modules. You must pass to fulfil the professional requirements to be eligible for registration as a Nurse.
Your work during placements will be assessed by a mentor with the necessary qualifications to function as a practice assessor (NMC Pre-registration Standards (2010)
Study abroad
As part of the optional health and social care elective module, students may spend part of the summer of their second year abroad, making up part of the requirements for a module credit.
After you graduate
Career prospects
Students usually obtain a post within children's health care, shortly after graduation. The course is designed such that students are supported to gain relevant theory and practice learning in areas of particular interest towards the end of the course. For example, having a high dependency base placement in their final year has led to some students gaining employment in a neonatal or children's intensive care as their first destination post.
With a professional qualification as a Registered Nurse (Child), you will be well prepared for employment and will have the ability to work as a staff nurse in a range of settings. As you progress, you will have a wide range of options open to you, whether you choose to pursue a career in clinical practice in hospital or community, management, nurse education or research.
Many students who take the course to gain a second registration are seconded from their employer and, after completing the course, either return to their posts or pursue new options with their children's nursing qualification.
Further study
Students who successfully complete the award may be able to develop their careers further. A wide range of courses are available at Oxford Brookes for continuing professional development (CPD).
Our Staff
Mrs Emma Inness
I am currently subject co-ordinator for undergraduate children's nursing. I am also the lead for children's nursing simulated learning (which mainly takes place in our simulation suites) and I lead on children's practice related teaching in years 2 and 3 of the nursing course.
Read more about EmmaFree language courses
Free language courses are available to full-time undergraduate and postgraduate students on many of our courses, and can be taken as a credit on some courses.
Information from Discover Uni
Full-time study
Programme changes:
On rare occasions we may need to make changes to our course programmes after they have been
published on the website. For more information, please visit our
changes to programmes page.