Old Sexeian Sixth Former Rachael Palmer completed her A-Levels in 2017. She is currently in her second year as an adult nursing student at the University of Plymouth. For the week 24-28 June 2019, Rachael took charge of the NHS Twitter account, sharing her NHS story with the world.

Personal anecdotes

This has included personal accounts of her work load day-to-day, as well as moving anecdotes of life on the ward. She told the story of her first realisation of what it’s truly like to be a nurse. She was assisting a nonagenarian man who had just suffered from a stroke. Rachael recognised signs of choking, linking it to the fact he had been feeling nauseous that day. She immediately pulled the emergency bell and moved him into the recovery position. He recovered and Rachael sat holding his hand because he was scared and wouldn’t let go.

In a video shared on her Twitter takeover, she commented: “I realised then how privileged we are as nurses to be with people at their most challenging times”.

Rachael is also the chair of ‘WeAre SfGH’ (Students for Global Health), which is the UK’s network for fighting national and global inequalities. Rachael said in an interview when sharing her NHS story that “I decided to become a nurse because I wanted to be that person that a patient remembers that was there for them on every step of their journey and made a difference big or small.”

Sexey’s Sixth Form

Government comparison rankings placed Sexey’s as the top State Sixth Form School in Somerset for the progress students make and attainment based on average grade, with Sexey’s beating many of the local sixth form college providers and independent schools across Somerset in 2018. Over 90% of students progress to their choice of university. Find out more here.