Nursing and midwifery taster day

Following Gower College Swansea’s successful bid for Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol funding, students with an interest in studying nursing, midwifery or social work through the medium of Welsh were able to attend a taster day at Swansea University.

“The aim was to encourage Welsh-medium students to study their course in Welsh and apply for an incentive scholarship that is attached to those courses,” says Bilingual Champion, Anna Davies, who organised the event. “We worked with the Welsh-medium schools in the region to ensure the message reached as many people as possible and that every potential student had a chance to attend the day.”

Students received short lectures - in nursing, midwifery and social work - in Welsh from Amanda Jones, Anneka Bell, Angharad Jones and Miriam Leigh, Welsh-medium lecturers at Swansea University.

The students were also lucky enough to receive plenty of tips for their application form, the interview process and studying through the medium of Welsh.

“The students received practical sessions in the clinical rooms such as brushing patients’ teeth, delivering a baby, making a bed and taking blood pressure,” says Elin Leyshon, Branch Officer for the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol at Swansea University. “These were all totally new experiences for the students. Miriam also delivered a beneficial session on social work which led to a discussion on what it takes to be a good social worker. This focused students’ thought on what they need to demonstrate in the application forms and at interview.”

Following the success of the day, it is hoped to track the number of students that now go on to study on these courses in Welsh and receive a scholarship. 

“Organising days like this in partnership with the university reinforces the relationship between further education and higher education and shows students that their Welsh language skill is an important one, especially in terms of employability,” adds Anna.