Twenty-six nursing students from Caboolture and Redcliffe are making Queensland history — training inside real public hospitals and community health facilities before they even graduate, something no enrolled nursing student in the state has done before.
The students, enrolled in the Diploma of Nursing at TAFE Queensland, are the first cohort of the newly established Urapun Clinical School of Nursing (CSON) — a joint initiative between Redcliffe Hospital, Community and Oral Health, and TAFE Queensland. The program is believed to be the first of its kind in the country for students studying to become enrolled nurses through a public health system partnership.
A Name With Meaning
The school’s name, Urapun, was chosen deliberately. Drawn from the Torres Strait Kala Lagaw Ya Western Islands language group, it means “one” — reflecting the coming together of three organisations to build something neither could create alone. Redcliffe Hospital Nursing Director of Education Sharon Ragau said the name also carries a broader significance, representing inclusion and unity with learners from local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
The students were formally welcomed into the programme with an afternoon tea and badge ceremony, attended by TAFE nursing representatives and a range of Metro North Health executives and staff. Ragau described the event as the realisation of a plan focused on strengthening workforce strategy and improving the student experience.
What the Training Looks Like
Each student will complete four clinical placements in total — two at Redcliffe Hospital and two at Community and Oral Health facilities spread across Moreton Bay and north Brisbane. These placements put students inside high-performing clinical teams, working with a wide range of patients across different healthcare settings.
Community and Oral Health Nursing Director of Education Karen Lush said the value of being embedded in an organisation’s culture cannot be underestimated. Students build familiarity with consistent placement sites and receive personalised guidance from facilitators who know them by name. Lush said future nurses in this programme will be exposed to clinical specialties including diabetes care, wound management, emergency care, and other specialty clinics — experience that would previously have been out of reach for diploma-level students.
The Scale of Community Health
To understand the scope of what these students are stepping into, consider this: Community and Oral Health delivers more than 250,000 patient appointments or visits every year. These take place in homes, at oral health clinics, health facilities, mobile dental vans, bedded services, and at residential aged and disability care facilities — giving students exposure to a breadth of real-world healthcare that classroom learning simply cannot replicate.
While Metro North Health has run a clinical school for registered nursing students through The Prince Charles Hospital and Australian Catholic University for some time, enrolled nursing students have not had the same access — until now. Lush said this programme opens a new pathway for diploma students to gain genuine, hands-on experience exclusively within the public health system, giving their careers a stronger start than traditional training alone could offer.
Published 5-March-2026
Featured Image Credit: Metro North Health
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