We recently were delighted to have a catch up with one of our Health & Social Care Learners at our most recent Open Evening. Zoe attended Kidderminster College from September 2015 until June 2017, we took the time to ask her a few questions about studying here at #TEAMKC
I never even considered Kidderminster until Gaynor visited us at school. I was attracted by the opportunities that Kidderminster offered, such as placement, which was going to enable me to get hands on experience. I was also attracted by the fact that all of the lecturers had worked within the field; within hospitals, social sector and volunteer sector. Kidderminster, at the open day, welcomed me with open arms into Level 3 and supported me throughout my choices and my journey.
BSC (Hons) Midwifery. I will become a qualified Midwife at the end of the degree, hoping to become a Community Midwife in the future. I am based at Birmingham Women’s Hospital – I was there when the latest series of One Born Every Minute was being filmed!
Level 5 (Second Year). The whole course requires 2,000 hours in placement, which is split into assessed placements each academic year. This includes Delivery Suite, Birth Centre, Antenatal wards, Postnatal wards, Community, Gynaecology Ward and the Neonatal Unit. First year (Level 4) focuses on normality, Second Year (Level 5) focuses on complex midwifery, Third year (Level 6) combines the two. You are expected to work 37.5 hours per week, both in university and placement. Assessments include written exams, skills exams, spoken exams and written essays – a big jump from level 3.
At college we were given the opportunity to go on placement. I chose to go to 2 different Special Educational Needs schools, as well as a day centre for older adults with additional needs. Whilst I was there I was able to learn Makaton which is a special type of sign language used by mixing sign and speech, to help children with additional needs to understand. I also learnt valuable communication skills when working in the day centre, which then enabled me to gain a job in a care home for the elderly. Kidderminster also encouraged us to present group projects in front of our class, this got me used to speaking in front of people and voicing my ideas, which has been a valuable trait whilst studying at university. The tutors at Kidderminster were amazing, they pushed us to be the best that we could be, they helped me throughout the application process, making my personal statement, application and interview skills gain me two places at university, I was accepted into Wolverhampton and Birmingham City University.
1400 people interviewed at BCU for 75 places – I am so privileged and proud to have gotten a place!
Gaynor Edgar, Programme Leader, was delighted to see Zoe at our latest Open Evening. “We are all very proud of Zoe and her achievements to date. We have a lot of learners stay in touch after they have left to let us know their progress and they often volunteer to help current learners with their career choices and progression. Zoe not only volunteered to help at open evening she has also offered to come into college in November to talk to current learners about university life. We find this is motivational and inspirational for current learners.”
#TEAMKC
