Applying for Paediatrics ST1: the 2027 entry guide

Apply through Oriel by 19 November 2026 at 16:00 UK time for paediatrics posts starting in August or September 2027. Start with eligibility, then work through the published shortlisting questions. Your written examples are fixed when you submit; there is no later portfolio upload to improve those answers.

This guide was checked on 7 November 2026 against the RCPCH's 2027–28 recruitment guidance. Paediatrics selects through a written application and interview, without the MSRA. Give the application enough time: concise answers still need careful selection and editing. The word count can make a discharge summary look positively roomy.

Dates for this round

The RCPCH timetable lists:

Applications opened: 22 October 2026, 10:00.
Applications close: 19 November 2026, 16:00.
Shortlisting: 16 December 2026–11 January 2027.
Interview invitations and declaration sent: 20 January 2027.
Interview booking and declaration deadline: 22 January 2027, 16:00.
Interview window: 2 February–25 March 2027.
Initial offers: By 6 April 2027, 17:00.
Hold deadline: 9 April 2027, 09:00 on the live RCPCH timetable.
Upgrade deadline: 14 April 2027, 16:00.

Use UK local time. The RCPCH webpage labels all times BST, but the November deadline and January booking dates fall in GMT under the UK clock-change timetable. Its applicant PDF gives 13:00 for the April hold deadline, conflicting with 09:00 on both the live webpage and the national timetable. Plan for the earlier time and check the deadline in Oriel.

The interview window does not mean that every date is available. Book from the slots offered in your invitation and return the declaration as instructed. Keep the invitation and confirmation somewhere you can find them when arranging leave. Your inbox already has enough mandatory-training reminders to hide them in.

Check whether ST1 is the right entry point

Read the 2027 person specification. You need a recognised primary medical qualification, full GMC registration when applying and a licence to practise when the post starts. The specification also covers foundation competence, eligibility to work, employment history and fitness-to-practise declarations.

The experience limit is 24 months whole-time-equivalent in paediatrics at the point of application, excluding foundation modules. Experience in any country counts. There is no minimum paediatric experience requirement for ST1. If you have more than the permitted experience, investigate the separate ST3 route rather than assuming another paediatric job will strengthen an ST1 application.

Calculate this carefully if you have held several short posts or worked less than full time. Use the actual dates and working proportions, and keep a record of your calculation. Unlike radiology's experience cap, this one is assessed at application, not at the future post start date.

Foundation competence must be evidenced through the appropriate route. A doctor currently completing UK Foundation training does not use the same route as someone applying with CREST. A recent FPCC may remain valid for a doctor taking an F3 year; taking time after FY2 does not itself mean a new CREST is needed. Check the national competence guidance and its three-and-a-half-year recency requirement against the advertised start date.

If you have left a training programme, are reapplying after resignation or need supporting declarations, read the relevant sections of the person specification before completing the form. These circumstances cannot be dealt with by an otherwise strong supporting answer.

Understand what the written application scores

The 2027–28 scoring framework has five areas:

Transferable clinical capabilities: 8.
Personal achievements and reflection: 8.
Quality improvement or audit: 5.
Research and academic achievements: 4.
Teaching: 5.
Total: 30.

Two assessors score the application independently, giving a combined maximum of 60. The academic maximum includes an additional point for a relevant research qualification; the qualification alone does not guarantee four points.

The form uses short text boxes and some drop-down answers. Follow each box's limit, commonly 50 words. That is not a single 50-word allowance for an entire assessment area: several questions have paired boxes repeated for different examples. There is no separate supporting statement.

Assessors score the written examples, without uploaded documentary evidence for these scored answers. Eligibility documents, such as required foundation competence evidence, are a separate matter and may still need uploading. Keep your own records so that every claim is accurate and you can explain it later.

DocFolio's portfolio self-assessment can help you review the areas you need to cover. Make the final choice of examples against the current RCPCH questions and descriptors.

Choose distinct examples before editing for length

Start by listing possible examples under each area. For each, write down your role, what happened and what you learnt. Then compare the examples against the descriptors before trying to compress them. Save the battle with the word counter until you know which story you are telling.

For transferable capabilities, consider the range of your experience. Several examples that all demonstrate the same ability give a narrower account than examples showing different capabilities. The framework permits up to five examples in this area, with no more than two practical procedures. Personal achievements also allow up to five examples and should avoid reusing those from the first area.

You do not need to invent a paediatric connection to every job you have done. Explain the connection you can support. A useful answer identifies a specific capability and how you would bring it to training; a generic declaration of enthusiasm gives the assessor less to work with.

Describe your contribution to projects

For audit or QI, make your own role clear. Distinguish collecting data, helping plan a project, coordinating it and presenting the results. Do not give yourself responsibility for work led by someone else, and do not omit your contribution simply because you worked with a senior colleague.

The scoring guidance considers planning, presentation and results or recommendations. It does not justify a blanket claim that only a completed multi-cycle project can score. Read the relevant descriptor and describe the stage your work has actually reached.

For research, separate your contribution from the output. What did you do, and what resulted from it? Check the status and authorship of anything you list. Avoid using a project title as a substitute for explaining your involvement. Even a project with an excellent acronym needs a verb explaining what you did.

For teaching, describe what you planned or delivered, who it was for and how you evaluated it. If feedback prompted a change, explain the change. Do not call a session regional merely because participants happened to travel to it; use the framework's definitions.

Make each answer do its own job

Draft in plain language. Where a box asks about your role, answer that question. Where it asks for reflection, explain what changed in your understanding or subsequent practice. You may need different details in the paired boxes rather than a shortened version of the same answer twice.

Cut scene-setting before cutting the action or result. The assessor can manage without the weather on the morning of your audit presentation. Replace a broad claim such as having excellent communication skills with the specific behaviour you can substantiate. Ask a colleague to read the draft and tell you what they think you did; if their interpretation differs from yours, revise it.

These are editing suggestions, not model answers or additional scoring rules. Your examples should remain your own, and the final text must fit the question as it appears in Oriel.

What can change after you submit?

The applicant guide, section 4, says you cannot amend or add evidence to the submitted application. Do the final check before pressing submit, including the scored answers and drop-down selections.

The guidance does not state a separate universal deadline by which every project must be finished. That matters because some descriptors recognise participation or work at different stages. It does not permit you to describe a future achievement as completed, or to add a better example after submission.

For an ongoing project, describe what you have actually done and choose the descriptor that fits. If you present it later, that does not retrospectively change the written answer on which you were shortlisted.

Keep an unedited copy of your submitted answers. If you are invited to interview, use it when preparing to discuss your experience. Continuing to learn after application is worthwhile, but distinguish later developments from what you claimed in November. Give that saved copy a clear filename before your interview drafts start breeding.

Prepare for the interview you are being offered

The RCPCH interview guidance describes two online Qpercom stations lasting 20 minutes each, with about 45 minutes for the overall process. The assessed areas are communication, career motivation, clinical reasoning and reflective practice.

Use the person specification to guide preparation. It recognises that applicants may have no previous paediatric post and sets expectations appropriate to ST1. You should understand the challenges of working with children and families and have awareness of safeguarding. This is recruitment preparation; clinical management should be learnt from the relevant curriculum and clinical teaching.

Practise explaining why you want paediatrics using things you have observed or done. A taster, placement, teaching activity or discussion with a trainee may help you describe the work realistically. Include what you found demanding and what you still need to learn, rather than presenting a career with no drawbacks.

For reflective practice, choose an experience you can discuss without reciting a script. Explain the decision or difficulty, your contribution and what you subsequently changed. A practice partner can ask follow-up questions and point out where an answer becomes vague.

For communication practice, listen to the other person and respond to what they say. In a mock interview, ask for feedback on whether your explanation was understandable and whether you allowed space for questions. Avoid filling every pause with another prepared point. A pause in a mock interview can safely remain unfilled, however unfamiliar that feels after ward work.

Rehearse with a camera and microphone, check the connection and follow the invitation's technical instructions. Keep the requested identification ready. Leave time between finishing a clinical shift and the interview where your rota allows; arrange the practicalities as soon as your booking is confirmed.

DocFolio's interview practice can help you rehearse aloud. Use the official station format and your own examples to decide what to practise.

Know the training pathway

Paediatrics is a run-through programme, subject to satisfactory progression. The Progress+ structure has core training at ST1–ST4 and specialty training at ST5–ST7, an indicative seven-year programme. The MRCPCH theory exams are required by the end of ST3 and MRCPCH Clinical by the end of ST4.

Read enough about the programme to explain what you are applying for. During a taster or placement, ask trainees about supervision, rotations, study time and the work they do at different stages. Compare that with your priorities and the programmes you might preference. Entry to run-through training still involves progression requirements; it does not guarantee every later subspecialty choice.

If you are a medical student or FY1 looking ahead, use the time to explore the specialty and participate in work you can complete and describe. Before agreeing to a project, ask what your role will be, who will supervise it and how you will know it is finished. ‘Nearly finished’ can otherwise become a surprisingly long stage of an audit. Keep evidence as you go and revisit the scoring framework when your own recruitment round opens, because the criteria may change.

Offers, competition and programme preferences

Shortlisting scores are not carried into the final interview ranking. RCPCH gives an interview appointability threshold of 55%, but meeting it does not guarantee an offer. Rank, preferences, available posts and priority status affect offers. The published 2027 rules apply prioritisation to interview invitations as well as offers; check your Oriel status and the review process if it is incorrect.

For context, the 2026 national competition figures record 2,605 paediatrics applications for 508 posts, a ratio of 5.13. These are the previous round's figures. They do not establish the number of 2027 applicants or your chance of a particular region.

Research the full geography of a programme before ranking it. Consider the hospitals and community placements involved, travel and the practicalities for anyone moving with you. Check the commute at the time you would actually do it; Sunday-afternoon traffic is very persuasive. Only preference posts you would accept. Under the national offer rules, an automatic upgrade replaces your existing offer and cannot be reversed to the old post.

After submitting, keep checking Oriel for shortlisting, booking and offer messages. The next immediate task is to make sure the application you submit by 19 November is complete, accurate and clear about what you have done.