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NEWHAM SCHOOL OF COMMUNITY NURSING
Newham's school is situated in self-contained premises at Ravenhill Road, shared with a
group of District Nurses using it as a working base. The first course for District Nurse
training began in September 1966 and all the eight nurses attending obtained certificates.
In the Spring of 1967. a course was begun for State Enrolled Nurses. This was followed
in early summer by the first refresher course which was attended by students from Newham and
other local authorities. These were the school's first external students. At this refresher
course a policy was established and since adhered to, of presenting a smaller number of topics
in depth, rather than aiming to achieve superficial cover for the maximum number of topics
possible.
In the Autumn of 1967. a course for nursing attendants was offered. This has been
repeated at intervals since and students who satisfactorily complete the course, including a
simple practical assessment, receive a Newham certificate.
In 1968, it was decided to award a Newham certificate of District Training to State
Enrolled Nurses, rather than to train them under the auspices of the Queen's Institute. At this
time the school took the controversial step of making some of this training for the Enrolled
Nurse a shared one with the State Registered Nurse. Criticised, as this was at the time, it is
gratifying that this has now become official policy of the Department of Health as laid down in
Circular 8/70. Later the Queen's Institute relinquished the training of State Registered Nurses
for the district, and this training became the responsibility of the Department of Health and
Social Security.
Early 1968 saw the beginning of the District part of the London Hospital's State Enrolment
District Nursing Integrated Training Scheme. In the Autumn, the school ran a three-day course
on 'Preparation for Attachment'. This was attended entirely by outside students, as Newham's
field Staff were already settled into attachment schemes.
In June 1970, the school arranged a course for Practical Work Instructors, which was
attended by external students, as well as students from Newham's District Nursing and Midwifery
Services A certificate was awarded on the basis of assessment of suitability and a very
taxing practical assignment.
As the school has developed, its educational patterns have changed a good deal. Specialist
lecturers are still used, but these now tend to come, mostly from the fields of general practice
and public health and welfare, rather than from hospitals. Much more use is now being made of
tape-recordings followed by structured seminars. The tendency is also, to make fewer visits of
observation, and those that are made to be tied into the teaching pattern much more closely.
A change has been made in the traditional examination system, consisting as it did of a
written paper and a session 'out on the district' with an external examiner. The written paper
remains, probably because students have been conditioned to accept this, but the nursing round
has been replaced in Newham, for State Registered Nurses, by a combination of a viva by an
external examiner, based on two case studies together with an on-going assessment. This has
amply justified itself. The department's new arrangements for examining the State Enrolled
Nurse for the National Certificate have replaced the nursing round with an on-going assessment.
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