Recent reductions in working hours and the increasing complexity of care in the UK both demand an increase in the number of consultant paediatricians.1 Responses of UK medical school graduates from 1974 to 2002 when surveyed on career influences indicate the importance of experiencing paediatrics during both medical school and the early postgraduate years.2 Recruitment into paediatrics should therefore begin in medical school, giving students early exposure to the best that paediatrics has to offer, especially as this may be their only opportunity before choosing careers.3 It is at this critical point that student-led paediatric societies could play a vital role.

The Cambridge University Paediatric Society (CUPS) was established in 2009 to increase …