ARU Blogs — Emma Wolton

Hello, I’m Emma and I am a Child Nursing Student at the Chelmsford Campus. I am doing the three-year degree course and at 27 years old, I guess I now fall into the mature student category! I’m looking forward to writing a blog; it will be the first that I’ve written, but hopefully you’ll enjoy reading it and find it useful if you are thinking about going into nursing.

I started the course in September 2012 and can’t say that nursing is what I have always wanted to do; instead the realisation that this was the right course for me came as rather an epiphany. I had worked with children on and off in various roles since I was an early teenager and knew that they would feature in my career in some way but hadn’t pinned down exactly what my proper ‘career job’ would be. After coming back from working and travelling abroad for three years, I found myself back in England not knowing what to do with the rest of my life. Some Googling of what jobs there were that worked with children brought me to health visiting, which I then found out required a nursing qualification. From reading up on it, Children’s Nursing and Health Visiting sounded like the perfect fit for me! I applied in January, had my interview, and found myself on the course that September, so pretty quick! After a year and a half on the course I do feel like I have now found my niche coming into nursing, and really enjoy getting all the experiences I can from placements.

Outside of the course, I enjoy baking and skiing. I have joined the university running club which keeps me fit, and I sing in a local choir which I really enjoy (we have just completed our second annual winter concert so am feeling very festive!). I also help out as a Student Ambassador with the Child Nursing team at open days throughout the year so you may meet me there.