Many SMC students have the goal of gaining entry to medical school, which is a highly competitive process that may require skills and knowledge not currently offered in the NCEA biology programmes.

To give our girls the competitive edge, the Science Faculty is offering Health Science Tutorials: an optional extra-curricular course in human physiology and advanced biochemistry that will give our students an advantage over others who do not get the opportunity to learn this material. To further prepare our students, the tutorial programme will also cover chemistry and physics topics not taught in NCEA courses but relevant to medicine and covered in first-year courses.

The first four tutorials have been well received, with 10 to 12 students attending each one. They have covered the digestive, cardiovascular, respiratory and immune systems. While the programme is taught in one period per week, the hope is that being exposed to this material will give students an advantage over those students who will see it for their first time at university.

Dr Anna Chapman (pictured), who runs the course, is planning to speak to staff at both the Auckland and Otago medical schools to determine the skills and knowledge they would like our students to have going into their Health Science programmes. Please get in touch with her if you would like more information about this opportunity.