access to nursing- any advice?

katiesmummy

i have just been offered a place on the above course (yippee!). :j

i went to the college yesterday to see the tutor and he was talking about the different units we will have to do etc. he said that although we will only be at college for about 12 1/2 hours per week with the amount of homework we will have to do, it will be a 35 hour week!:eek:

now i am REALLY scared! my ds will be 11 months old when i start (not even started looking for childcare yet!) and i am really worried that i wont be able to cope with the workload, as well as looking after ds, the house, and working as well (am gonna cut my shifts to 2 nights a week methinks)

i guess my questions are:

1. has anyone done this course before who can give me an idea of what to expect?
2. can anyone who is studying and has young children offer me any advice on the best way to get organized?

like i said, i am really scared, but also very very excited :j

cardiffforthefacup

I managed 3 A levels and a GCSE whan my daughter was 10 months old. My situation might have been different as I had no extended family, just me and her, so I had to use the College creche, although I felt guilty at first, I think it was the best decision possible as I had a break from being just a mum and she got to socialise with other children, as a result she is now a confident and intelligent girl who is not afraid of making new friends and is not shy and withdrawn as I was during childhood. I had to have the nursery place for 3 and half days a week (17 hours teaching time) and was helped with the cost through college funds, who also helped with bus fares back and forth too. In order to study successfully it was essential I was organised, therefore my daughter had an ordered routine and was usually in bed between 6-7pm each night,(I read they need at least 11 hours sleep at that age anyway), there was the odd day this didn't work but on the whole this proved successful, unless the creche let the afternoon nap extend too long, then I found I had a grouchy and excitable child whom I couldn't get to bed at her regular time,(this also had a knock on effect in the morning, with her being tired instead of her happy bouncy self). After she went to bed I would have a 30-40 minute wind down time(me time)before I would study for the rest of the evening(including telly/tea breaks/stretching exercises). I used to have two nights a week where I did no study, and on the days off utilised nap times to get in some work/reading. I managed to go to the gym 3/4 times a week (you can do some reading on the cycle/ crosstrainer). I didn't have a social life though & wasn't working though. I never put the books ahead of the time I spent with my daughter and usually managed to go to the park most days after I picked her up and I think she benefited from not being stuck all day in only my company. The studying was comfortable but only because I was organised, some but not all of the other young mums in college at same time (doing various courses)dropped out, however I was determined at this stage so stayed the course. It was very enjoyable and sociable, I met lots of other mums through being in the creche/so we met up on various occasions outside the course as well. On the access course people will probably be more mature so I expect you will have more in common with them, although I was working with school leavers they very friendly and had no problems with some one of another generation on the same courses. I think if you get organised you can have a great time without too much stress and gain a qualification at the end,

Scarlett1

katiesmummy wrote: »

i have just been offered a place on the above course (yippee!). :j

i went to the college yesterday to see the tutor and he was talking about the different units we will have to do etc. he said that although we will only be at college for about 12 1/2 hours per week with the amount of homework we will have to do, it will be a 35 hour week!:eek:

now i am REALLY scared! my ds will be 11 months old when i start (not even started looking for childcare yet!) and i am really worried that i wont be able to cope with the workload, as well as looking after ds, the house, and working as well (am gonna cut my shifts to 2 nights a week methinks)

i guess my questions are:

1. has anyone done this course before who can give me an idea of what to expect?
2. can anyone who is studying and has young children offer me any advice on the best way to get organized?

like i said, i am really scared, but also very very excited :j

Well done for getting on the course, I am looking at doing nurse training so might have to do an access course aswell, I think this will be good as it will give you an insight into whether you will be able to cope with the training in itself

mummytofour

I have just finished my Access course. Mine was in Social Policy.
At the end of the day there is a lot of work BUT at the time you don't really see it, you get on and do it and you find the time.
I have NO idea how I have found the time to do the course I just did some how.
I would say go, give it a go and I am sure you will be surprised. BUT to succeed you really have to want to, it will not be a walk in the park but will be worth the effort.
Good luck in what you decided and make sure that you are 100% happy with the childcare you sort out for your little one as if your happy with that the rest will follow.

ginstar

I finished my nursing course two days ago and I am a single mom. The work involved is quite intense near the times of assignments and exams and you will feel the pressure but if you do manage your time you will be fine (I never did, I am terrible at time management!!!). The first semester is quite a shock (although I did do an open university course before doing this course so I was ok with going back into learning again) but the tutors are fantastic and there is loads and loads of support available. I also was off sick for about 7 weeks and managed to catch up. The only thing I would suggest is only do the modules you need. I started doing every module which totalled up to about 100 credits and I only needed 45 for the university placement so you dont have to do every subject they do - discuss this with your tutor too.
More importantly, if you are anything like me, doing this course was the only way I could go into nursing and it was the best decision I ever made - there were many days I felt like jacking it all in but thankfully I never - its fantastic and worth every minute. good luck and as long as you get your childcare sorted all will be fine - dont forget you will have financial help with the childcare too.:o

katiesmummy

thank you all for your replies.

i have put ds name down for the college nursery so fingers crossed he will be offered a place.

i am soooo excited- have wanted to do this for years!:j

lilysgarden

Congrats on the course! Thankfully I didn't have kids to worry about when I did my access course, but found it just as tough! I was in college 4 days a week from 10am to 4pm, I was working 4 evenings a week for a total of 22 hours each week. On a thursday, I had to complete a placement which was flexible hours but generally from 8am until around 5pm (sometimes as late as 10pm!). I also did voluntary work for a mental health helpline for a minimum of 4 hours a week. These were usually done from around 10pm until 2am the following morning. I was completing all my homework during the week to try and keep my weekends as free as possible so that I could take the hours drive each way to see my boyfriend and keep some form of contact with friends and family. This also had to be taken up by extra training for my voluntary work on some occassions. Think I worked out that if I was VERY lucky, I was getting about 4 or 5 hours sleep a night on a good day. It was very tough but well worth it when I was accepted for my degree at my first choice uni almost immediately! And obviously I was trying to maintain some form of social life. But it can be done, so don't stress and just stay focused and well organised! Take any breaks you get as a chance to get essays etc out of the way at the very beginning, and don't leave them till the last minute!

Good luck!

katiesmummy

i think the best thing to do as soon as i get my timetable for my classes is to make a timetable of my own for home, and try and stick to it as much as possible.

if my ds gets a nursery place he will have a full time place, as part time can only be morning or afternoon not a combination of both. he will be in nursery from 8.30 till 4.30 (if i want him to be) so i was thinking i could really take advantage of it and use the college library to study in.

Oldernotwiser

One year Access courses are very intensive as they have to take people from around GCSE level (and often for people who did these many years ago) to university entry in a very short time. You also need a fair bit of luck that things like children's illnesses don't strike because if you miss more than a couple of days it can be very hard to catch up. It helps if you have a good support network and plenty of backup. Having said that, thousands of people in your situation do manage to do succeed with them and they're excellent preparation for university. After all, nurse training is also pretty intensive as well so you might as well get used to it from the start!

cardiffforthefacup

Yes the child illness larky is a bit of a bind, I have had to leave exams early more than once due to this, and my daughter was in hospital when I was in the middle of my revision for A levels, but I managed even though I had no support network or any family, so it can be done

hayandbaz

Hi, i have just been reading all the posts on this and would like to ask a question as well. I have got onto the Access to nursing course as well and start Sept, also have children (3 of them!). The thing i want to know is can anybody tell me the textbook list as i can't find mine anywhere and really want to start getting them in so that i am prepared.

I am hopefully going to go onto midwifery after the access course.

Thanks
Hayley