Undergraduate courses/Nursing and Midwifery courses/Child Nursing with NMC registration

Key facts

Entry requirements

120 or DDM

Full entry requirements

UCAS code

B702

Institution code

D26

Duration

3 yrs full-time

Three years full-time (45 week year)

Fees

2025/26 UK tuition fees:
£9,535*

Additional costs

See all the key facts

Entry requirements

120 or DDM

Full entry requirements

UCAS code

B702

Institution code

D26

Duration

3 yrs full-time

Three years full-time (45 week year)

Fees

2025/26 UK tuition fees:
£9,535*

Additional costs

See all the key facts

Our dynamic and Nursing and Midwifery Council‑accredited curriculum ensures you will qualify with knowledge and skills to deliver safe and effective care, which is responsive to the changing climate in children and young people’s nursing.

Our dynamic and NMC-accredited curriculum ensures you will qualify with knowledge and skills to deliver safe and effective care, which is responsive to the changing climate in children and young people’s nursing. 

It will develop your understanding of contemporary issues in children’s nursing and the importance of a family-centred approach to assess, plan, implement and evaluate safe and effective care.

Children’s nurses play an integral role in acute and community healthcare settings. As such, we work closely with our practice partners to offer a breadth and depth of placements throughout the programme. You can explore opportunities in specialised areas, such as Primary Care, palliative care, Teenage Cancer Trust Unit, neonatal units, children’s intensive care, and at one of the world's busiest ECMO centres with one of the only remaining Diana Children's Nursing Teams in the UK. 

Placements are typically provided across the East Midlands, in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland and sometimes in surrounding counties. In your placement, you will work alongside practice supervisors and practice assessors to learn the practical application of nursing relevant to your chosen field.  

This course is structured through Inter-Professional (IP) learning. Allowing you to collaborate with other allied healthcare students and professionals and gain a wider understand of issues and debates in the sector. 

We encourage you to challenge yourself, completing a variety of assessments to demonstrate theoretical knowledge and practical skills. You will develop expert communication skills, an understanding of cognitive development and how this influence both childhood perception of illness and care delivery. During the course, students also have access to updated facilities, utilising simulation suites, Virtual Reality technology, and LearningSpace software.

You will share learning opportunities with students from the other fields of nursing practice but an also engage in field of practice specific learning opportunities throughout the programme, to ensure that you develop your identity, knowledge and skills within the child nursing field of practice.

For further details please contact:

Sam Humphrey

Programme Leader BSc Nursing (hons) with NMC registration

bscnursing@dmu.ac.uk

Key Features

  • Study in our newly renovated facilities which comprise of simulated clinical settings and the latest teaching technology allowing you to practice your nursing skills in a safe and supportive environment.
  • Our strong links with local NHS trusts, private healthcare providers and charity organisations allow our students to gain practical experience in a range of placement settings throughout all three years of the course.
  • DMU students can gain valuable international experience as part of their studies with the DMU Global programme.
Block teaching designed around you

You deserve a positive teaching and learning experience, where you feel part of a supportive and nurturing community. That’s why most students will enjoy an innovative approach to learning using block teaching, where you will study one module at a time. You’ll benefit from regular assessments – rather than lots of exams at the end of the year – and a simple timetable that allows you to engage with your subject and enjoy other aspects of university life such as sports, societies, meeting friends and discovering your new city. By studying with the same peers and tutor for each block, you’ll build friendships and a sense of belonging. Read more about block teaching.

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Financial support

The NHS Learning Support Fund provides eligible students with additional financial support whilst studying for their degree:

  • training grant of £5,000 per year
  • parental support payment of £2,000 per year to help with childcare
  • help towards additional travel and accommodation costs to clinical placements over your normal daily travel costs

Students must be eligible for tuition fees and maintenance support from the Student Loans Company (including certain residency criteria) to be eligible. Read more about the grant and eligibility criteria.

Accreditation

The majority of our children’s nursing lecturers are registered Children’s Nurses and have a variety of experience from their pervious roles within practice. This includes paediatric and neonatal intensive care, respiratory, gastroenterology, burns, health visiting and school nursing. As well as a vast experience of clinical education and management within children services.

Our teaching team is complemented by other health care professionals and qualified teachers many of which are also research active. A number of our lecturers have doctoral level qualifications, and many staff are also currently undertaking academic and professional doctorates.

The Leicester School of Nursing and Midwifery has an excellent reputation and good links with the local NHS trust and other potential employers, which is beneficial when you are applying for jobs.

NMC logo

Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC)

This programme is accredited by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), and has been developed to reflect the requirements of the NMC (2018) Future Nurse proficiencies standards of Nursing Education.

What you will study

In first year, you will engage in 917 hours of theory and 720 hours of practice (56% theory and 44% practice).

Practice experience 1

This module is used to monitor NMC requirements, practice proficiencies, professional values and student attendance in practice. You will have three placement blocks to develop foundational skills required as a child nurse. A number of clinical skills are also delivered in this module.

Foundations of Anatomy, Physiology and Pharmacology in Nursing

This module explores human anatomy and physiology with an emphasis on pharmacology. You will explore the main body systems and changes that occur through the aging process. You will have opportunity to learn foundational knowledge about pharmacology including pharmakinestics and pharmacodynamics.

Influences on Wellbeing

This module develops an understanding of the influences on wellbeing and health and how this can impact on individuals and groups throughout the lifespan. You will develop fundamental knowledge regarding the child nurses’ role on the promotion of wellbeing and skills to support the wellbeing of the child.

Foundations of Field of Practise

This module encourages you to adopt an enquiring approach to the assessment, planning and delivery of safe and effective practice within their relevant field of practice. You will explore foundational pathophysiology, including child field of practice specific pathophysiology, assessment and identification of immediate and essential care needs for patients/clients within the child field of practice.

In the second year, you will engage in 848 hours of theory and 840 hours of practice (50% theory and 50% practice).

Practice experience 2

This module is used to monitor NMC requirements, practice proficiencies, professional values and student attendance in practice. You will have two placement blocks   where they will continue to develop the skills required as a children’s nurse. A number of clinical skills are also delivered in this module.

Research and Evidence Based Practice

The module will examine a range of research paradigms and will provide you with the skills and understanding involved in planning, designing, contextualising and thinking critically about evidence-based research, which underpins all nursing and health care practice.

Primary Care

This module will develop your knowledge around the patient’s first point of contact with primary care services.  You will learn about the context of factors that influence patient behaviour and their decision-making processes.  You will examine common illnesses and experiences alongside some long-term health conditions utilising a holistic perspective and the importance of health promotion.

Acute Care

This module explores acute nursing care (in secondary care). You will develop skills in working with commonly encountered mental, physical, behavioural and cognitive health conditions, recognising and responding to the deteriorating patient and the utilisation of safe interventions to support patient care in the acute nursing care context. You will learn how to recognise and respond to deteriorating patients, using appropriate interventions to ensure evidence-based children’s nursing care.

In third year, you will engage in 769 hours of theory and 920 hours of practice (45.5% theory and 54.5% practice).

Practice experience 3

This module is used to monitor NMC requirements, practice proficiencies, professional values and student attendance in practice. You will have two placement blocks in which they will continue to develop and begin to consolidate the skills required to become a registered children’s nurse.

Critical Inquiry and Research proposal

You will complete a critical inquiry and research proposal based on a subject relevant to the child field of nursing practice. This will enable you to critically evaluate sources of evidence and support you to become an independent, accountable practitioner, ensuring that your practise as a future children’s nurse is based on the best available evidence.

Leadership and Service Improvement

This module will develop your knowledge of accountability and skills in relation to nursing leadership and of the leadership roles and responsibilities of a registered children’s nurse.

Managing Complexities in Nursing Practice

This module will enable you to critically analyse your knowledge, skills and decision-making processes relevant to the care of children and families. You will also develop skills in managing complex health presentations within the child field of practice and have opportunity to consolidate skills required to work effectively with the wider inter-disciplinary team.

Note: All modules are indicative and based on the current academic session. Course information is correct at the time of publication and is subject to review. Exact modules may, therefore, vary for your intake in order to keep content current. If there are changes to your course we will, where reasonable, take steps to inform you as appropriate.

Learning is supported by a strong system of personal tutors, teaching teams, academic assessors, practice work placements and enthusiastic practice supervisors and assessors. Teaching methods include:

  • Lectures (face to face and online)
  • Seminars
  • Webinars
  • Workshops
  • Presentations
  • Tutorials
  • Simulation activities
  • Clinical skills learning
  • Enquiry-based problem solving
  • Independent e-learning
  • Peer learning sets

You will complete blocks of clinical placements 40 hours per week and blocks comprised of theory and independent learning hours up to an equivalent of 37.5 hours each week.

Students in practice placements are allocated an academic assessor, practice supervisors and practice assessors to help develop and support learning in the practice context.

Assessments

Assessments fall at the end of each block and are used to assess your theory and practice knowledge. We use a variety of methods that are designed to support you with developing skills vital to a career in nursing. These include:

  • Examinations – demonstrating resilience and working under pressure
  • Presentations and Vivas – developing verbal communication skills and the ability to effective communicate complex material
  • Essays – building strong written skills to support with communicating complex nursing information
  • Reflective practice – develop skills to engage with written reflection as required by the NMC

Teaching contact hours

Contact hours in a typical week will depend to some extent on the modules you are studying. However, typically you will have up to 16 contact hours of teaching per week.

Child Nursing with NMC registration in the spotlight

Nursing student Abbi Bott: My Nursing Journey

Nursing student Abbi Bott: My Nursing Journey

Children's Nursing student Abbi Bott, from De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) is about to embark on a career as a children's nurse in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. We caught up with Abbi, as she explains what has motivated her into a career that has an important impact on families' lives.

March 2023

Related courses

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Midwifery
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Our facilities

Clinical skills and simulation facilities for Health and Life Sciences

At DMU we provide clinical skills and simulation teaching and practice that will enhance your theoretical learning by using a realistic, immersive environment that mimics the practice environments you will encounter during your clinical placements and in your career beyond. This provides our students with opportunities to develop cognitive, practical and interpersonal skills through a comprehensive programme of simulated experiences and clinical skills sessions, allowing you to develop the confidence to perform in the real world.

DMU have invested in extending and enhancing the range of clinical skills and simulation facilities available for health and life science students. We currently have two dedicated spaces on campus that provide flexible teaching and assessment spaces to meet a wide range of student’s needs.

Hawthorn building houses two ward environments, a dedicated midwifery suite, radiography suite and bespoke manual handling and paramedicine spaces.

Our designated clinical skills teaching hub in Heritage House offers flexible teaching rooms - designed to replicate the changing environments of clinical practice, a soft furnished space, audiology suite and observation rooms. Students benefit from the audio /visual technology that allows sessions to be recorded and live streamed, facilitating remote learning opportunities. This technology also enhances your learning opportunities through the use of meaningful debriefing of teaching and simulation sessions allowing you to reflect on your practice and improve in both ability and confidence before taking your learning into the real world. 

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Our expertise

The majority of our children’s nursing lecturers are registered Children’s Nurses and have a variety of experience from their pervious roles within practice. This includes paediatric and neonatal intensive care, respiratory, gastroenterology, burns, health visiting and school nursing. As well as a vast experience of clinical education and management within children services.

Our teaching team is complemented by other health care professionals and qualified teachers many of which are also research active. A number of our lecturers have doctoral level qualifications and many staff are also currently undertaking academic and professional doctorates.

The Leicester School of Nursing and Midwifery has an excellent reputation and good links with the local NHS trust and other potential employers, which is beneficial when you are applying for jobs.

What makes us special

Three students working together around a laptop

Block teaching

With block teaching, you’ll learn in a focused format, where you study one subject at a time instead of several at once. As a result, you will receive faster feedback through more regular assessment, have a more simplified timetable, and have a better study-life balance. That means more time to engage with your DMU community and other rewarding aspects of university life.

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DMU Global

DMU Global is our innovative international experience programme, which aims to enrich your studies and expand your cultural horizons – helping you to become a global graduate, equipped to meet the needs of employers across the world. Through DMU Global, we offer a wide range of opportunities including on-campus and UK activities, overseas study and faculty-led field trips.

Students from the school have recently undertaken DMU Global trips to places such as:

  • Amsterdam to study harm reduction strategies
  • Dubai to study chronic kidney disease and renal care
  • Peru where they took part in healthcare programmes
  • Helsinki to compare health education and services

These are examples of some of the overseas experiences that our nursing students have accessed in the past. We may offer alternative trips during your course.

Where we could take you

CCJ Graduate

Placements

As part of this course, you will have the opportunity to complete a number of placements, which offer invaluable professional experience. Placements are typically provided locally by our practice partners in University Hospitals of Leicester or Leicestershire Partnership Trust as well as our Private Voluntary and Independent services. Students must therefore be prepared to travel to access placement opportunities which are an essential component of the programme.

Our local placements provide care some of the sickest, smallest and most vulnerable children in the East Midlands. This will fully prepare you to for your career as a qualified children’s nurse.

In your placement, you will work alongside practice supervisors and practice assessors to learn the practical application of nursing relevant to your chosen field. Placements are typically based in a variety of acute and community health environments and social care settings, including caring for individuals in their own homes. This includes a range of different shift patterns across a 24-hour cycle.

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Graduate careers

Upon successfully completing the course, nursing graduates are eligible to apply for NMC registration and can apply to work in a variety of roles throughout the NHS, charitable and private healthcare sectors. Registered nurses can start on a salary of £29,969 (NHS nurse band 5 pay scale – correct as of July 2024).

As a registered children’s nurse you will be able to work across a number of areas of your choosing, from children’s intensive care units, to acute ward based services such as medical, surgical or orthopaedic areas. Or you may consider career pathways involving more community-based work such as health visiting or school nursing or even caring for children with acute and ongoing care managed in the home environment. Beyond this and post qualification, nurses can go on to become specialist children’s nurses, paediatric ward managers or advanced nurse practitioners. Upon successfully completing the course nursing graduates are eligible to apply for NMC registration and can apply to work in a variety of roles throughout the NHS, charitable and private healthcare sectors.

Once qualified, our postgraduate study opportunities can further enhance your knowledge and skills, including Post Registration Education, professional doctorates and master’s degrees such as Professional Clinical Practice MSc/PG Cert/PG Dip.

Additional costs

The core textbooks for all modules are available in the Kimberlin Library, and journal articles in your reading lists are also mostly available electronically from your myDMU login. Some students like to purchase their own text books or print course documents and we suggest allowing approximately £200 per year for this.

All students are required to pay for their DBS check if required for your programme or placement.

In addition students will be required to pay for their travel costs to placements or project locations.

All students are provided the opportunity to participate in DMU Global trips. These trips are subsidised by the University, and the cost and subsidy varies by location.

Take your next steps

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Find out how to apply

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Course specifications

Course title

Child Nursing with NMC registration

Award

BSc (Hons)

UCAS code

B702

Institution code

D26

Study level

Undergraduate

Study mode

Full-time

Start date

September

Duration

Three years full-time (45 week year)

Fees

2025/26 UK tuition fees:
£9,535*

*subject to the government, as is expected, passing legislation to formalise the increase.

Additional costs

Entry requirements

GCSEs

  • Five GCSEs at grade C/4 or above including: English, Maths and Science

Passes in Functional Key Skills in Level 2 Maths and English will only be accepted if the qualification and awarding organisation is regulated by Ofqual.

Plus one of the following:

A Level

  • A minimum of 120 UCAS points from 2 or more A levels, including one A level at C or above. We do not accept General Studies or UCAS points achieved through music exams.

T Levels

  • Merit in Health overall

BTEC

  • BTEC National Diploma - normally in Health and Social Care or Applied Science at DDM
  • BTEC Extended Diploma - normally in Health and Social Care or Applied Science at DDM

Access course

  • AHE (Nursing and Midwifery)
  • AHE (Science)
  • AHE (Health Professions)

Pass in the QAA Access to HE with a minimum of 96 UCAS points with 15 credits at Distinction level.

The Access course must have a minimum of 12 science credits (biology, chemistry or physics). If not, applicants must also have a GCSE Science grade C/4 or above to meet the requirements.

GCSE English Maths or functional skills level 2 qualifications in English and Maths are required.

We will normally require students to have had a break from full-time education before undertaking the Access course.

International Baccalaureate: 28+ points

English language requirements

If English is not your first language an IELTS score of 7 overall when you start the course is essential, with a 7.0 in all components except writing which should be at least 6.5.

English language tuition, delivered by our British Council accredited Centre for English Language Learning (CELL), is available both before and during the course.

Interview requirements

Interview: Yes

Professional conduct during the event will also contribute to the decision-making regarding an applicant’s application.

The recruitment process for this course includes assessing applicants by the content of their personal statement and interview for the core values of the NHS constitution.

Interviews will be delivered via Microsoft Teams.

Work experience requirements

Work experience: Desirable

Although not essential, some relevant experience – paid or voluntary, is desirable and can strengthen your application with us. Please tell us in your personal statement, and at interview details of the length of time spent gaining relevant experience and the type of experience you have. You should also clearly demonstrate your motivations and suitability to study and train as a nurse and how your experience relates to the role.

Non-academic requirements

As well as academic requirements, you will also be required to meet and fulfil non-academic requirements which are stated below:

  • Self-Declaration Form clearance
  • Occupational Health clearance
  • Enhanced DBS disclosure clearance

You submit an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service disclosure application form before starting the course (if you are overseas you will also need to submit a criminal records certificate from your home country), which needs to be cleared in accordance with DMU’s admissions policy. Contact us for up-to-date information.

We strongly advise that you opt for the DBS update service as it is possible that future placement providers may request a recent DBS and not one from the start of the programme. If you decide not to opt for this service then you will have to pay for the DBS again if requested by your placement provided – the university will not cover this cost.

You must meet and fulfil all non-academic requirements before 18 July 2025. Failure to meet this deadline may result in your offer being withdrawn.

UCAS tariff information

Students applying for courses starting in September will be made offers based on the latest UCAS Tariff.

Availability: This course has a limited number of places so that we can ensure a good quality placement experience. In exceptional circumstances this may result in the course becoming full before you have completed the admissions process. In this situation we will offer you the opportunity to be considered for a place on an alternative course.