Welcome Students

We are delighted to welcome you as a student member of  this new groundbreaking, blended delivery midwifery programme. After a successful implementation in 2009 we now have a cohort of students in year two and a second cohort commencing year one in 2010. We are also delighted to welcome the students from the lower North Island.

As you are almost certainly aware by now, the programme has been jointly developed by the Schools of Midwifery at CPIT and Otago Polytechnic.  We  work closely together to ensure a cohesive and quality assured programme.  Although we are two different schools we are delivering, what is essentially, one programme. CPIT is responsible for satellites in Nelson, Blenheim, West Coast, Christchurch and Timaru. Otago Polytechnic is responsible for satellites in the South Island in Oamaru, Dunedin, Central Otago and Invercargill and in the North Island in Whanganui, Palmerston North and Wellington.

This new programme was developed in response to the Midwifery Council of New Zealand's 'Standards for Pre-registration Midwifery Education' (2007) and  retains the strengths of the two previous programmes whilst at the same time introducing and developing an innovative design that will prepare you as a midwife for the future. The blended delivery model of online study with face to face tutorials in satellite groups and local midwifery practice experience enables students from a wide geographical area to undertake midwifery education. As a result, you come from a diverse range of towns and rural areas spanning the length and breadth of the South Island and the lower North Island. The ‘cross-fertilisation' that this generates will enable you to share a vast range of experiences. In spite of the geographical separation however, we can already see that you are forming an awe-inspiring team as the new generation of students midwives from Otago Polytechnic and CPIT.

Don’t forget that we are here to ‘midwife’ you throughout your journey to becoming a fully fledged member of this wonderful profession and that,
“The Midwife that you become will be an expression of all you learn, with your heart, your mind and your hands.”  Carla Hartley