The placements which I carried out gave me a lot of experience of what it was like to work in the real world, some days were challenging but also great fun. After a year of extremely hard work and preparation I achieved 2 distinctions.

As it came to the second year of the course, the work started to get harder and become more challenging however, with the support from my tutor and other college lecturers it made it easier to face the challenges and complete the work. Since first year I knew that I wanted to become a paediatric nurse, so when it came to choosing career options I already had chosen which made it easier from me.

From the help of my tutor I was able to research into different universities and courses to see which one best suited me. I applied for 5 different universities with Swansea in my mind for my first choice. However, as I know that becoming a paediatric nurse can be very hard as it is a competitive course to get on as there are only a short amount of spaces. In order to try and get a space in university I started to prepare very early on. With the help from my tutor and the college I was able to write my personal statement ready for each university I applied for. Shortly after I had done this I was offered interviews for all universities. I was over the moon by this as I was not expecting to hear back from all of them as I know how hard it is to get an interview for paediatric nursing.

In order to get a place on the university’s courses, I needed to come out with DDM after the second year. This meant I worked extremely hard so I could achieve these grades. I prepared a lot for each interview, whilst also carrying out practise interviews with my tutor in college. After visiting each university, I had now changed my mind of where I wanted to study children’s nursing, my intent was now to study in The University of West England. My interview there went extremely well and I loved the university, shortly after I was offered a conditional place dependant on my grades. To ensure I achieved those grades for the restof year two I worked extremely hard and I was very determined throughout the year. After completing year 2 I have achieved three distinctions, which I am over the moon about as I received a firm offer to start in Bristol University. In September 2020 I started a paediatric nursing degree in The University of West England. All the hard work, determination and support from my tutor and lecturers at NPTC has definitely paid off.