I had a student midwife with my first who I didn't really bond with. I kinda wish I'd just asked her to leave tbh and I didn't have a student with my next birth. I wanted a student with my last birth but it didn't happen as you can't request one in that way in the NHS.

As a student I try to ensure that if the woman I was with didn't want me there that she would be able to ask me to leave, knowing I wouldn't take offence. What I actually do depends on the setting. In the private hospital I do a lot less. I'm there to observe and anything clinical I do is up to the decision of the midwife in charge of the birth. In the public system I will do anything I can, up to and including catching the baby, because it's much more acceptable there to do so. That's not the way in all private hospitals though.