The specialist community public health nursing course is designed to prepare practitioners for the role of health visitor through meeting the professional standards laid down by the NMC for registration on part 3 of the professional register; it is of interest to students if learners are a nurse or midwife and wish to further develop a career through working with clients and communities to improve health; the learning outcomes of the course are determined by the professional standards of the NMC and take into account the need to be responsive to locally determined health needs and service delivery; there is an emphasis on the importance of leadership through seeking to understand the impact of wider determinants of health on clients and their communities and subsequent health promoting interventions; the academic team provides a supportive environment that is conducive to learning needs, and is committed to supporting students in the development of academic and professional knowledge; students also develop key transferable skills, in order to become a flexible, autonomous and highly-skilled practitioner; learning is built on a combination of campus based study and a programme of supervised learning experience in a practice setting, overseen by a practice teacher; areas of study within the programme include: specialist practice for community public health nurses; health promotion; working with families and communities; and investigating and challenging evidence based practice; students learn a range of new skills with supporting knowledge to enable to practice as a safe and effective specialist community public health nurse; these include skills of leadership, communication, enquiry, advocacy, critical reflection and analysis.