We're delighted to welcome you to the beginning of your midwifery journey. Choosing to become a midwife is a profound commitment—to advocacy, evidence-based care and to supporting women, newborns and families at some of the most significant moments in their lives. We look forward to getting to know you. Welcome to your midwifery future!
Your Course Team
Your Course team will contact you with key dates for your course.
Your Welcome Week is an essential introduction to your course and the wider University, helping you to feel confident and prepared for your studies right from the very start.
It is important to check your Course Welcome Week for all the activities you are required to attend as part of your course induction. If any of your welcome activities are in groups, your course team will contact you before you arrive to let you know which group you will be in.
In addition, check the Student Events Hub for a range of fun activities. including the Students’ Union Welcome Fair, to help you make friends and live your best CCCU student life.
Your teaching timetable
UniTimetables provides an overview of all teaching activities for a course. If your course is taught in groups, it will display information for all groups, not just the group you will be assigned to.
Your individual student timetable will show you what modules and groups you are expected to attend via MyTimetable. This will be available for when your teaching starts.
Learn more about timetabling for new students including user guides and videos.
We hope you’re looking forward to the next three years and getting ready for the excitement, rewards and challenges that lie ahead. Midwifery is both deeply rewarding and intellectually demanding. There will be challenges ahead, but you will be supported every step of the way by your academic team, practice colleagues and peers.
This first year will provide you with a solid grounding in key areas such as anatomy and physiology, communication, public health and the fundamentals of midwifery practice. You’ll begin to develop the critical thinking, professional values and clinical skills that will shape your identity as a future midwife.
At this stage, it’s important for you to ensure you have support and strategies in place to help you make the most of university life and clinical placement, including an understanding of the commitment and flexibility required to make your midwifery education a real success. With that in mind, we’ve outlined some important things to think about and some suggestions of places to go for further information.
Please ensure that you engage with all Occupational Health, DBS or Placement planning activities required by the Admissions Team. Failure to complete this by the time you register on the course may result in you not being able to proceed with your studies.
We are proud to be an inclusive University that supports a diverse community of students. Please note that if you have a disability or would like to learn more about the support that we can offer to students, please visit the Disability and Mental Health website.
Please note that timings given in your Course Welcome Week for uniform measure and issue events and occupational health vaccinations are indicative timings only. Please check below for the exact time of your appointment, which will be dependent on your surname (A-Z).
As part of starting your studies here at Canterbury Christ Church University, you will need to attend an occupational health vaccination appointment and a uniform measure & issue appointment during Welcome Week.
Students need to obtain occupational health clearance to ensure they are fit to practice. You will be prompted via your ‘MyRecord’ to complete a clearance check and directed to an online health questionnaire.
Once you have submitted your questionnaire, you are required to attend an occupational health vaccination appointment appropriate to your placement requirements. We use an external company called OH Works for this. Ahead of your appointment, please gather any vaccination documentation (paper or electronic) from your GP or workplace to take to your occupational health appointment.
Your OH vaccination appointment will take place in Ag54 (Anselm Building, Canterbury Campus) on the same day as your uniform measure and issue appointment.
For enquiries about your occupational health clearance please email cccustudents@ohworks.co.uk or phone 01227 286288.
At your measure & issue appointment, you will be welcomed by our uniform suppliers, Alexandra. Once your sizing requirements have been determined, you will be able to collect your uniform which is expected to last the duration of your course. Your uniform is provided to you free of charge.
Click here for your uniform appointment location and time.
Important information regarding your uniform can be found on the uniform policy.
On placement you will be required to wear a placement badge, which will have your course title and preferred first name. This placement badge is provided to you free of charge. You will be supplied with your placement badge once you have started your course. Please note, this is not your student ID card.
You will receive an email regarding important tasks that you will need to action prior to your Welcome Week.
Midwifery is a dynamic and diverse profession. Our course will enable you to become a qualified midwife who is able to lead safe, effective and compassionate care of women, newborns and families, as well as meet the evolving challenges of the job. You’ve already shown us that you have the potential and we will work with you to ensure you meet your goals.
The midwifery team understand that this is a time of change for you. The prospect of university can sometimes feel daunting as it’s often a big step up from your previous education experience. To help with the transition, you’ll meet your Personal Academic Tutor (known as a PAT) within the first couple of weeks of the course. They’ll be available to you throughout the whole three years to answer questions and help you find your feet within the university community.
The course has been developed to meet all of the professional requirements of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and to allow you to register as a midwife. In order to meet these, you’ll be expected to attend all your timetabled classroom-based learning and all your practice learning on clinical placement. You’ll receive further details of your timetables in the first two weeks of the course, but please be aware that midwifery is a full-time commitment from Day 1.
We’re sure that you’ll be keen to get as organised as possible before you start.
We would encourage you to review the course structure via your course page before you arrive.
There’s no single textbook that will cover everything you’ll need to know about midwifery. You’ll use a wide variety of books, journals and online information throughout your course, and you’ll spend a significant amount of time reading as well as getting ‘hands on’ in clinical placement. However, some pre-reading is always a good idea, so here are some suggestions:
If you are eager to start right away, the following texts should be of interest:
There’s no expectation that you purchase textbooks, but if you do want to have your own copies of any core midwifery texts, you will receive a discount at the University Bookshop
The CCCU Learning Skills Hub will be an important resource for support in developing your academic, time management and study skills, and of course don’t forget the Library!
In addition, it will be helpful for you to take a look at the following websites, which will help you to develop your understanding of the role of the midwife and of the broader NHS.
Podcasts can be a great source of information – you might want to give these a try, available wherever you get your podcasts
International students: don't miss out! Make sure you register for our international student success programme which provides practical advice on preparing to live and study in the UK.
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