Pharmacy the winning career for Rodillian Academy

We are delighted to announce that students from Rodillian Academy in Wakefield are the Yorkshire and Humber regional winners of the Step into the NHS national schools' competition!

Year 9 students Leah Metcalf, Eva Palfreeman, Gloria Ndofula and Favour Oresanya impressed the judges with their entry to promote the role of a pharmacist to their peers. Leah, Eva, Gloria and Favour brought the role to life by designing a first aid box which opened up to describe what a pharmacist does.

Now in its ninth year, the competition attracted numerous entries from up and down the country and more than 2,000 students got involved. The competition aims to promote the 350 plus careers available in health and students were tasked with designing an advertisement and job description for their chosen role. They could work individually or in groups of up to four.

Lorraine Bradley, head of school at Rodillian Academy said:

We are immensely proud of this achievement which reflects the hard work and resilience that our pupils have. Leah, Eva, Gloria and Favour with  support from Miss Pullan have been able to showcase their knowledge, creativity and team work to become regional winners.

Leah, Eva, Gloria and Favour said:

We chose pharmacy as it is a career that we are all interested in. It allowed us to find out more about the day-to-day experiences of being a pharmacist. We want to work within the NHS in a caring job and were excited to find out what’s involved. By entering the competition, we were able to research the job and then use the information in our design.

Sharon Simister, project coordinator at Health Education England said:

Congratulations to Leah, Eva, Gloria, Favour and Rodillian Academy for their fantastic entry. Young people are extremely important to the future of the NHS workforce. It is important that the NHS engages with young people now and lets them know about the wealth of career opportunities.

There are more than 350 different careers to choose from in health and jobs range from community matron, dietitian or public health analyst to a finance manager or web developer. Initiatives such as the schools competition really help to raise awareness of this.