Spotlight on: Midwifery
Our Director of Sixth Form, Ruth Coyle, has been invited to contribute and blog for MyGovCentral, a new online resource designed to help public and voluntary sector professions develop better public services through shared learning, case study-led articles, videos and interviews. The second blog introduced the Midwifery T Level, which is launching September 2022 at La Retraite 6.
At the La Retraite 6, we are delighted to be starting the T Level in Health Midwifery this September. We always knew that this would be a popular course in our sixth form, as many of our alumni have gone on to become midwives and work within the healthcare sector.
Already, we are oversubscribed on this course, and it is our hope that once these students successfully complete their studies, they will go some way to address the national skills shortage we have within the industry.
As we are based in South London, we are ideally placed for several major hospitals; St Georges, Kings College Hospital and Guys and St Thomas. To help students develop their clinic skills we are pleased to be working with the Dementia Centre and giving back to our local community.
We are also thrilled that the DFE has awarded us over £2 million in funding for a new T Level building that will house two specialist rooms for Midwifery. Our specialist rooms will have a simulated hospital ward which will enable all students to gain the practical skills they require before beginning their 45-day industry placement. We have also purchased a class set of VR headsets so that students can visualise the birthing experience in virtual reality. In addition, we have secured a partnership with Roehampton University Nursing Department ensuring our students will have access to their facilities and expertise.
We are very grateful to Jadesola, La Retraite 6 alumni, who is a senior midwife specialising in diabetes for attending our induction day on the 5th of July to share her journey with our new cohort of students.
Students studying the course will be provided with midwifery uniforms and have a specialist team of 3 staff delivering their curriculum; Mrs Khatun, Head of Biology, Mrs Bailey, Head of Health and Ms Iheanacho, Health teacher. All the teachers have been busy updating their skills through the ETF Industry Insights program.
I look forward to sharing more about the course and students placement experiences with you, next year.
Ruth Coyle, Director of Sixth Form
What is the Midwifery T Level like?
If you’re looking for a career in which you want to help others, you have a openly caring nature and have an interest in working in the health sector then this is the course for you!
As this T Level has been developed in collaboration with employers and businesses, you will gain the knowledge, skills and experience you need to get the job you want, or move into further technical training, such as higher technical qualifications, higher apprenticeships or a degree if you prefer.
In Year 1 you will gain core knowledge and understanding of the contexts, theories, and principles that underpin the health and science sector and in Year 2, you will go into greater depth in your chosen specialism of assisting the midwifery team. In addition, throughout your industry placement, you will work on an employer-set project, to give you the opportunity to put your knowledge and skills into practice in a real-life setting as well as experiencing first-hand what it is like to be part of a team in the health sector.