Nursing (Child) BSc(Hons)

NMC and vaccination requirements

For all nursing courses leading to registration with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) as a nurse, you must demonstrate the following:

• completion of 10 years general education
• successful completion of literacy and numeracy assessments during the interview process
• evidence of study within the last five years is desirable
• evidence of commitment to the profession
• passing of occupational health and Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks
• ability to meet travel requirements to attend placements
• ability to follow a shift pattern that could cover any part of a 24-hour seven-day cycle.

Occupational health screening and vaccinations
You will need to complete an occupational health screening and we strongly encourage that you get all of the required vaccinations. Particular vaccinations are a requirement of certain NHS placement providers and are in place to protect you and the patients. Without the appropriate vaccinations you will not be able to undertake some placements – and this may impact on your ability to complete your course. The list of required vaccinations is updated by the NHS and may change over the course of your studies.

Top reasons to choose this course

• Accredited by the Nursing and Midwifery Council.
• Placements with NHS and non-NHS healthcare providers in both acute and community settings.
• Learn in our clinical skills and simulation suites, and practice independently in our nursing skills zone.
• You’ll share some modules with students on our adult and mental health nursing degrees, allowing you to benefit from interprofessional collaboration. 
• Support throughout your degree from our student-run Nursing Society.
• 100% of our graduates are in work or further study 15 months after their degree and 100% of working graduates are in highly skilled work as nursing professionals – Graduate Outcomes Survey.
• Non-repayable grant of at least £5,000 each academic year.
• Brighton is in the UK top 25% for graduate earnings in nursing and midwifery three years after graduating – Longitudinal Education Outcomes 2022.

Course structure

Throughout the degree you will develop understanding of child development and the importance of a child and family-centred approach – this includes looking after unwell children and young people and well children and young people through child health surveillance.   

In each year of the degree, you’ll engage with both theory and practice learning, alternating between academic terms of lectures and workshops and blocks of practice. In total, during your degree you will complete 2,300 academic hours and 2,300 of practice learning.

University learning is Monday to Friday with independent study days. Practice placement blocks are 37.5 hours per week and between four and 10 weeks long.

You’ll share some modules with students on our adult and mental health nursing degrees, allowing you to benefit from interprofessional collaboration. Other modules are child field-specific, allowing you to explore the basis of nursing children and young people and begin to forge your professional identity.

Recognising that patients are at the heart of everything the NHS does, we have embedded the core values of the NHS Constitution — respect, dignity, compassion and collaboration — into our curriculum.

As a student on this course you’ll also get to participate in Schwartz Rounds – hour-long sessions where students come together to listen to stories and share reflections in a supportive and confidential environment. The sessions offer the opportunity to reflect on the emotional aspects of clinical practice and are designed to support students and recent graduates working in complex settings.

Making sure that what you learn with us is relevant, up to date and what employers are looking for is our priority, so courses are reviewed and enhanced on an ongoing basis. When you have applied to us, you’ll be told about any new developments through Student View.

Year 1

You will be introduced to the nursing profession and begin your development of the required knowledge and skills for children’s nursing practice. You will also develop an understanding of the structure and function of the human body. You’ll spend around 50% of your time on placement.

Modules

• Nursing Assessment in Partnership with People

  You will learn how to undertake a holistic nursing assessment of a person in terms of their mental, physical, social and spiritual needs and the importance of completing an assessment in partnership with the person, taking into account their circumstances, characteristics and preferences. You’ll also gain an understanding of the role of the nurse in assessing the person’s needs as a member of the multi-disciplinary team (MDT).

• Planning Nursing Care in Partnership with People

  This module will enable you to plan nursing care based on the information gained from a holistic nursing assessment. You’ll learn the importance of identifying priorities in the mental, physical, social and spiritual needs of the person and formulating a plan of care in partnership with the person and the multi-disciplinary team (MDT).

• Human Biology for Nursing

  This module will enable you to explore human biology in relation to the health, wellbeing and illness of a person across the lifespan. You’ll develop an understanding of how human biology and altered physiology underpins your developing nursing practice.

• Practice Learning for Nursing Year 1

  The practice assessment of this course is divided into three parts and this module comprises part one, which will enable you to begin developing the knowledge, skills and values required for nursing practice. You will integrate learning from your placement and at university in order to meet the Future Nurse: Standards of proficiency for registered nurses (Nursing and Midwifery Council [NMC] 2018).

Year 2

In year 2 you will continue to build your skills, knowledge and professional identity. You will gain insight into children’s health services and nursing roles within public health, acute services, community and research. Around 50% of year 2 will also be spent on placement.

Modules

• Quality Improvement Using Evidence-based Nursing Practice

  In this module you will explore the range of evidence used in evidence-based nursing practice and learn how to appraise this to improve quality of nursing care. You will look at principles of quality improvement such as patient safety, clinical governance, safeguarding, risk assessment and management, audit and evaluation.

• Child Development and Transitions

  This module will enable you to develop a holistic view of child and young person development and how relationships with primary carers, significant others, family members and friends contribute to this. You will explore the key concepts and theoretical approaches such as attachment, transition, identity, risks and resilience.

• Nursing to Promote Health and Prevent Illness

  This module explores the role nurses have in promoting health and preventing illness by looking at the theory and concepts of public health and health protection. Content includes public health and education, for example health literacy, health impact needs assessment and lifestyles changes; current public health strategies; social and environmental determinants of health including health inequalities at local and global levels; and collaborative working with health and social care professionals.

• Assessing and Planning Complex Care in Children's Nursing

  In this module you will explore the processes of assessing and planning complex care for children and young people so you are able to respond effectively to their needs and those of their families and carers. The module will integrate biosciences, psychological concepts and the evidence base that underpins children’s nursing practice.

• Practice Learning for Children's Nursing Year 2

  In this module you will develop the knowledge, skills and values required for children’s nursing practice. It combines both placement- and university-learning in order for you to meet the Future nurse: Standards of proficiency for registered nurses (Nursing & Midwifery Council [NMC] 2018).

Final year

In your final year you will continue to specialise in the field of children’s nursing, focusing on the more complex care needs of children, young people and their families.

In addition to your placement, you will undertake an individual project and develop your professional practice and identity further in the areas of leadership, physical assessment and decision-making. You’ll also consider the wider context of children and young people’s healthcare as you prepare to enter the profession as a registered nurse and member of the children’s workforce.

Modules

• Contemporary and Future Nursing Practice

  In Contemporary and Future Nursing Practice you will analyse the context of, and contemporary influences on, nursing practice. These factors include health economics, health and social care policy, technology and research. You will learn how to improve the service for users and their family/carers and support sustainability in healthcare. You will also explore the importance of exercising political awareness as global citizens and your role in shaping the future of the nursing profession.

• Enhanced Physical Assessment of the Child and Young Person

  This module will enable you to further your cognitive, clinical and decision-making abilities by enhancing your assessment skills of children and young people with various disease presentations within different healthcare settings. The module explores the context of healthcare delivery and the importance of nursing to the interprofessional patient assessment agenda.

• Leading and Managing Nursing Care and Effective Teams

  In this module you will enhance your self-awareness and gain an appreciation of organisational leadership and management in healthcare. You’ll develop your own leadership values for your professional practice in relation to contemporary leadership theory. You will explore team working and its influence on a person-centred culture as well as collaborative interprofessional/multiagency working.

• Children's Nursing in Context

  In this module you will explore working in partnership with children and young people and their families and carers across the age range. You’ll analyse the legal, ethical and professional principles and frameworks of your role as a children’s nurse and explore new ways of working. You will also evaluate the role of other professionals within the health and social care workforce and the effectiveness of interprofessional and multiagency working.

• Practice Learning for Children's Nursing Year 3

  You will continue to develop the knowledge, skills and values required for children’s nursing practice during this module. You will integrate learning from both placement and university environments in order to meet the Future nurse: Standards of proficiency for registered nurses (Nursing & Midwifery Council [NMC] 2018).

Facilities

Placements

You will complete 2,300 hours of practice learning over the course of your degree. This learning will mainly be in practice placements across Surrey, Sussex and Kent, and the total hours enable you to meet the Nursing and Midwifery Council requirements for registration as a nurse.

Our flexible approach and excellent links with local healthcare organisations enable us to offer clinical placements in a range of hospital and community settings, working alongside a variety of multi-professional teams.

Most children receive healthcare in the community and our placements reflect this, offering experience in schools, GP surgeries, the Healthy Child Programme (health visiting and school nursing), minor injury units, residential units, child development centres and children’s community nursing teams.

Hospital placements offer experience in wards, units and specialist departments within NHS district general hospitals and the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital in Brighton.

Placements are usually 37.5 hours per week, and you will be supported by a practice supervisor and practice assessor. Shift times vary according to the setting, but shifts can be between 8–12.5 hours long. Placements are likely to include school holidays, some weekends and some nights.

Placements take place across Sussex, Surrey and Kent and can include rural settings – you may need to travel for up to 90 minutes to your placement location. You will need to arrange your own transport to your placement but can claim for reimbursement of excess travel costs via the Travel and Dual Accommodation Expenses NHS bursary.

Supporting you

You will receive lots of support throughout your degree in children’s nursing. During your course you’ll have access to:

• academic assessor
• personal academic tutor
• practice liaison lecturers
• practice supervisors and practice assessors in clinical practice
• student support and guidance tutor (SSGT)

Nursing Society
Our student-run Nursing Society provides support for all nursing students at every stage of your degree.

The society facilitates group learning and extracurricular lectures from speakers across the multidisciplinary team.

Study abroad

We are committed to providing a global perspective to nursing and midwifery education.

Nursing students currently have opportunities to participate in an international placement in year 2 or 3. 

The experience is two to four weeks long and is managed by different reputable organisations in collaboration with the student. International placements are only with partners with which we have an agreement – this ensures a good quality learning opportunity and safe experience.

Locations include Tanzania, Nepal, Philippines and Mexico.

For an insight into what life is like on a study abroad placement, read Sabrina Barnes’ experience in our student views section.

Meet the team

Alison Taylor – course leader

Alison is a registered children’s nurse and completed her Bachelor of Nursing in 1997.

She worked as a staff nurse at Birmingham Children’s Hospital before travelling to Australia to work on children’s wards in New South Wales, Northern Territory, Western Australia and Queensland.

Alison relocated to Brighton in 2003 and worked in clinical and practice development roles having developed an interest in nurse education. She completed a Postgraduate Certificate in Health and Social Care Education in 2010 and from 2012–2015 was involved in the University’s partnership work to launch the first paediatric nursing course in Zambia.

Alison completed her masters dissertation in 2014 on culturally safe approaches to health partnership work.

Alison continues to practise alongside her academic career.

Read Alison’s full profile. 

Course fees

Additional funding support

UK students studying nursing, midwifery and some allied health professions subjects receive a non-repayable grant of at least £5,000 each academic year. Find out more on the NHS website.

The RKS Scholarship

The RKS Scholarship will fund one student’s annual fee of £9,250 for three years of undergraduate study (total value of £27,750). Applications need to be male or identify as male or non-binary and be a full-time student with a firm offer on a Podiatry BSc or Nursing (Adult or Child) BSc. They will need to be eligible to receive a full student finance package, a University of Brighton Bursary, Care Leaver’s Bursary or Estranged Student Bursary.

The fees listed here are for the first year of full-time study if you start your course in the academic year 2025–26.

You will pay fees for each year of your course. Some fees may increase each year.

UK undergraduate and some postgraduate fees are regulated by the UK government and increases will not be more than the maximum amount allowed. Course fees that are not regulated may increase each year by up to 5% or RPI (whichever is higher).

If you are studying part-time your fee will usually be calculated based on the number of modules that you take.

Find out more

• Brighton Boost – cost of living help for our new undergrad students. Find out about how we can help with your study, accommodation or travel costs and more...
• Fees, bursaries, scholarships and government funding info for UK and international undergraduate students
• Student finance and budgeting while studying
• Read our student contract and tuition fee policy (pdf) for more on University of Brighton tuition fees.

Campus where this course is taught

Accommodation

Local area

Maps

Support and wellbeing

Sport at Brighton