Exploring Healthcare at St. George's Medical School

Over 40 aspiring healthcare practitioners will be gathering at St George’s Hospital Medical School in Tooting next week, to learn what working in healthcare is really like. The 14-15 year-olds will gather together for the unique spring school to gain an insight into medicine, physiotherapy, radiography, nursing and biomedical science. The students come from all over London and have been hand-picked to take part. The school aims to provide them with much needed encouragement to continue with their studies, and to go on to higher education. On Wednesday 14 April the 14 — 15 year-olds will descend on Tooting, to take part in London’s first healthcare-specific spring school. The course, ‘Exploring Healthcare’, is funded by the European Social Fund and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and is aimed at widening participation in universities to ensure that the student body is as fair and representative as possible. Participants are likely to be

the first member of their family to go on to higher education
from schools that do not have a good record of sending students on to higher education
from areas of London that have a below average secondary to higher education conversion rate

The students will work through medical problems in guided study teams, take part in clinical skills sessions, attend lectures and get a practical introduction to various healthcare professions through the ‘Experiments Roadshows’. The students will also have the opportunity to grill those already working in many of the professions about various aspects of the job.

"Exploring Healthcare is a fantastic opportunity for hard working and committed individuals to really get to grips with life at St George’s Medical School, and we feel privileged to have this opportunity to guide the development of tomorrow’s healthcare professionals", said Kenton Lewis, the Widening Participation Officer at St George’s Hospital Medical School.