Reps Blog 2 - CSSHS Cyncoed School Rep

My Lead Reps

Term 1 is well and truly in full swing. I managed to get my lead reps in relatively quickly and am very impressed with their commitment, performance and attitude towards the role. Having been a lead rep before I was able to give first-hand experience as to what to expect from the role, but also what is also expected from them. Personally, I wanted an even split between male and females’ reps as well as a kind of balance between the courses they take. It was really important for me to put in place a really influential level 5 lead rep, by doing so my aim was increase the level of engagement from the L5 students. I feel that very happy with the choices I have made regarding the lead reps I have in place and I can’t wait to see how they continue to engage with their role next term.

Christian Farrell is the Lead Rep for postgraduate study and is undertaking the MSc Sport Coaching and Pedagogy masters. Christian was lead rep during his final year as an undergraduate and so has experience within the role which will benefit him in fulfilling the role effectively.

Course Rep Training (26/10/19)

Well October training has rolled round again and my third year at course rep training, although in very different role with greater expectation being placed on me. The way the day ran seemed a lot more enjoyable than previous years, perhaps because I was more involved in the activities and knew all the answers this year. Despite the day being quite content heavy, most people appeared to enjoy themselves, with the free lunch helping. Although the number of reps from my school was not one of the biggest, despite constant pushes from myself and my lead reps encouraging course reps to attend, I was able to catch as many as possible in a mop up session help in early November.

Student Voice Week (25/11/19 – 29/11/19)

This was probably one of the most hectic weeks from term 1, Elle (CSESP Rep) and I had decided that we would run our student voice week events together. This included a graffiti wall on Tuesday and a lucky dip on Thursday, the Tuesday was our best day for student feedback due to the timing of the event. For the graffiti wall we decided to ask lecturers and other staff e.g. Careers for any questions they wished students to answer, this meant that the feedback we were collecting was quite specific to areas within the university. A couple examples of the questions asked were “How can the uni better cater for your wellbeing?” and “what other support do you feel the SU and Uni could offer you?”. Many questions were quite open, although we did have some closed ones, but students were asked to expand on their answers to get a better understanding of the student perspective. In total, on Tuesday Elle and I spoke to over 120 students and handed out a lot of sweets and chocolate. I also managed to pop many balloons while blowing them up and so we only ended up with 6 fully made balloons that day..oops!

On Thursday we placed our lucky dip event outside of Centro, which was quite lucky but also not so much. It just so happened that sport team photos were happening on the same day and so we got a fair bit of traction because of this. Although it also meant that the day was quite hit and miss, there would be sometimes were we would be full of people and other times where we’d go for a little while without interacting with anyone. We had chosen to somewhat separate the feedback being given on this day unlike on Tuesday where it was all mixed on the wall. I had chosen to put questions on balloons (I didn’t pop any this day, I was very proud of myself), these questions catered around the NSS and SSS themes. By doing so it meant when presenting the feedback back to staff it was clear what areas were doing well and other needed working on. Students then pulled a balloon out a bag and simply answered the question. Once answered, they had 10 seconds in the lucky dip box to try and find 1/6 amazon vouchers in there and if they didn’t, they got a nice handful of treats.

Term 1 Lead Rep Review (03/12/19)

Being a lead rep and knowing what to pass on and present in/out of committees is quite challenging and so prior to the end of term my lead reps and I sat in a private space to discuss what has happened this term. We began with an outline of what we’ve done/achieved this term these included getting 40 credit modules particularly in level 6 re-clarified to clear up confusion. As well clarifying the mitigating circumstances procedures and implemented a flow chart to make it more student friendly as well as easier for staff so they aren’t overwhelmed especially at pinch points. We then discussed what was next and coming up in term 2, especially in relation to campaigns from part-time officers such as Delphi with her ‘Not all disabilities are visible’ campaign and to encourage awareness of it. We concluded the meeting by conducting a mini self and peer evaluation with what I could do better and what they could. During this time, it was also suggested a wellbeing week should be implemented to help during with student wellbeing and assessments, all areas of the university could get involved and could encouraged more take up in workshops offered by the university and Students Union. It was also prompted that the lead reps within their first two weeks back after winter break meet with their course reps to create better rapport allowing for a more open dialogue throughout the year. The hope being to combat the drop that is commonly seen in term 2.

Term 1 has certainly been an interesting 12 weeks, I am ready for a much needed break over winter, ready to restart and commence term 2!