New project opens up pharmacy to school children

The School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences has launched an innovative new school engagement scheme today, to coincide with World Kidney Day.

The School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences has launched an innovative new school engagement scheme today, to coincide with World Kidney Day. Widening Access to Pharmacy aims to inspire pupils from all backgrounds to view studying pharmacy as an attainable goal. With an official shortage of pharmacists in the UK, the project will encourage pupils to take up the career and also practice in their home regions to help maintain the key role of pharmacies in delivering patient care within their communities.

Working closely with teachers, pupils, careers networks, healthcare practitioners and animators, Project Lead Wyn Davies has developed a series of activities and videos that help teachers deliver the GCSE content of the WJEC biology curriculum. Whilst the project will hopefully be extended to many areas of the syllabus, the pilot is based around the content for the kidney.

The Renal Unit at Morriston Hospital were instrumental in bringing the kidney content to life via  video interviews and animations, and this visibility will help to show school pupils how what they learn in school can be used in the real world, particularly in relation to pharmacy.

To celebrate World Kidney Day, the scheme has launched in the pilot schools of Cwm Brombil and Ysgol y Creuddyn. Both schools were heavily involved in the project’s genesis and this innovative co-production has seen enthusiastic buy-in from all stakeholders.

Wyn Davies said, “Working with such a wide variety of stakeholders has been a rewarding experience and we hope that it will achieve our goal of allowing pupils to see how what they’re learning in classrooms supports them in future careers and hopefully inspires the next generation of pharmacists.”