TGGS Healthcare Conference Success !!

Saturday 25^th March saw TGGS buzzing with 175 students from 13 schools gathered for our Healthcare Conference. 

For over 5 hours, the students from Years 9 to 13 explored a wide variety of healthcare professions, hearing talks from a Doctor, Midwife and Vet, as well as attending workshops run by universities and healthcare providers, and engaging with 20 different carousel stands, each with a different healthcare professional.

For some students, it was a chance to add depth to their understanding of a career they are already committed to, such as Medicine, Nursing, Dentistry or Pharmacy.  For others it was a great opportunity to learn more about the range of healthcare courses and roles that might suit them, including less well known fields such as Hospital science labs, Occupational therapy, Vet Nursing, Optometry or Radiography. 

One highlight for many students was the workshop with the Devon and Exeter Medical History Trust, who brought their handling collection, including rare Roman surgical implements, to illustrate both change and continuity in healthcare over time.  Other students picked out the chance to talk with eight TGGS alumnae studying a range of healthcare and veterinary courses at university, who ran a workshop giving tips for future applicants. 

Head of Sixth Tania Grigg was particularly proud of our Year 13 MedSoc students who gave a great workshop for younger students on how to run a MedSoc and prepare yourself for a demanding application process.  Already this year 7 TGGS students have university Medicine offers, as well as others for Vet, Dentistry, Physio and Pharmacy, and we can now anticipate many more in years to come.

We’re enormously grateful to the 55 parents, alumnae, university representatives and local providers who gave up their Saturday to support our young people, as well as the 12 TGGS staff who ensured the event ran so smoothly. TGGS Repro, Finance and Facilities Team all worked very hard to make the event happen, along with TGGS Convenor Alastair Endersby.

The contributors were –

TGGS Alumnae - current healthcare students (Daisy Crisell, Maddie Hooker, Amy Harrison, Muntaha Hasnath, Rosanna Castillo Palmer, Nushrat Farren); Becki Kealy, RD&E; Dr James Purtyer, Head of Bristol University Dentistry School; Devon & Exeter Medical Heritage Trust (Professor David Radstone, Professor John Crellin, Megan Woolley); Devon Partnership NHS Trust (Pauline Champion & Aelfrida Palmer); Medicine Keynote (Dr Alice Warwick-James of Bristol University); Dr Amanda Barrett, General Practitioner;  Dr Mark Feeney, Consultant Gastroenterologist; Exeter University - Medicine/Nursing/Radiography (Ifraax Abdi Osman, Lelia Morgan, Dr Chris Campbell, Anca Ichim, Kamila Fraczek, Emily Jellard); General Practice, Dr Kate Barnett; Torbay Hospital BioMedical Scientist Debbie Foot; Veterinary Medicine Keynote (Lennon Foo of Amity Vets); Midwifery (Scarlett Williams); Midwifery Keynote (Angela Thompson of Plymouth University); Nursing (Kersten James); Occupational Therapy: Neuro Rehabilitation (Helen Lauer & Clare Southwood); Optometry (Fabiha Ghani); Pharmacy with Torbay & South Devon NHS Trust (Jo Pullen, Sameer Ghani, Amanda Vian, Wen Yi Lim & Tracey Foss); Plymouth University (Puja Patel & Catherine Shin Ying-Chen – Dentistry; Jessica Marshall & Georgie Dalton – Medicine); TGGS Yr 13 MedSoc (Amy Singh, Katie Swann, Ashleigh Hughes & Immy Feeney); Torbay Hospital VOLUNTEERWITHUS (Katie Jordan & Becki Doidge); NHS Careers (Phillippa Lovell); University of the West of England (Andrea Maggs & Helen Cox); Veterinary Medicine (Jane Hill); Veterinary Nursing (Laura Sproul).