A brother and sister from West Malling in Kent have been named regional winners in a contest designed to help young people consider a career in the NHS.
Violet Smith, aged nine, and her brother Austin, 11 – both pupils at Sutton Valence Preparatory School in Maidstone – used their creativity to design a poster describing NHS roles.
Violet told Maidstone Radio: “We really enjoyed working together to create our poster and were amazed at how many jobs there are in the NHS. There are lots more than we first thought!”
The brother and sister scooped top prize for the Kent, Surrey & Sussex region in the ‘Step Into The NHS’ primary schools competition, winning vouchers to spend.
This year’s competition saw an impressive 1,871 entries from more than 3,000 pupils in 273 primary schools throughout England. As well as learning about some of the 350 careers in the NHS, pupils had chance to say thank you to NHS staff for their work to fight COVID-19.
The judges were A&E doctor and TV presenter Dr Ronx, professor of careers education Tristram Hooley and teacher trainer Hannah Wilson.
Headteacher Claire Corkran added: “The ‘Step into the NHS’ competition provided an excellent opportunity for our pupils to reflect on what they already knew and to find out more about the NHS. It also enabled them to consider the incredible work carried out by all who work for the National Health Service both at an extraordinary time in history, and under more normal circumstances
The annual ‘Step Into The NHS’ contest provides a host of useful teaching resources to help raise students’ aspirations and understanding of the many careers available in the NHS.
The competition is returning for the 2020-21 school year with a brand-new look designed to increase its appeal to students across the country. Developed in partnership with teachers, the Step Into The NHS website includes a careers quiz, real-life stories from NHS staff, work experience tips and learning resources to help young people explore the hundreds of roles within the NHS: https://www.stepintothenhs.nhs.uk/
For details of all the career opportunities the NHS can offer, visit the Health Careers website here:- https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/
