Start Date: 1 November 2022 12:00 pm
End Date: 1 November 2022 4:00 pm
Location: Community Hub (next to Binks), Exton Park
Our Chaplaincy team want to hear your views on what our Community Garden should look like at Exton Park. Drop in any time between 1pm and 4pm to share your views and get involved in some craft and gardening activities.
As a University of Chester student, your safety is extremely important to us. In 2021, we ran an all student Campus Climate Survey to gather student opinion on a wide range of issues, including personal safety, unacceptable behaviour and student concerns.
Following this survey and through funding received through the Safer Streets initiative, we’ve implemented a number of initiatives at the University of Chester to make you feel as safe as possible at our sites:
All students and staff have free access to the personal safety app Hollie Guard.
The Hollie Guard app has many useful features, including:
Alert – Pressing the alert button sets off an alert and activates your phone’s camera, sending a message and recording to your emergency contacts.
Meeting Timer – If you feel like you’re entering a potentially dangerous situation, you can set a timer. The timer will countdown until you deactivate it. If you don’t deactivate it, it will raise an alert.
Journey – You can set a start and end point for your journey. The app will then monitor your journey and alert your contacts when you arrive or if you raise an alarm.
Download the app now:
New lighting was installed across all Chester sites as a direct result of your feedback:
The University partnered with 13 local businesses across Chester to provide our students with Safe Spaces should they ever feel they are in danger.
This means that if you’re ever in a situation where you feel vulnerable and you need a safe space, you can visit any of these local businesses and you’ll receive help and support. In addition to providing immediate refuge, these Safe Spaces will be able to signpost or refer you to support services within the University and externally.
The venues range from local shops and churches to pubs and restaurants and the dedicated safe space Cafe 71, which means you’ll have access to at least one Safe Space at different times throughout the day.
Report a Concern is our internal reporting tool for students wanting to report an incident to the University. Incidents might include bullying, harassment or sexual violence.
You can report an incident anonymously or provide your details if you wish to discuss the incident with a staff member who can explain your support options. You can access the Report a Concern tool here.
The SVLO service supports students who have experienced any form of sexual violence. The team have all undergone comprehensive accredited training to prepare them for their role.
SVLOs will listen without judgement and explain the different support and reporting options available to the student. The service is student-led, so any actions for the SVLO are made in agreement with the student. Find out more.
6 – 10 November is Northwest Sexual Violence Awareness Week. Local partners and specialist organisations will join us in raising awareness of sexual violence, what support is available and info on reporting options. Keep an eye out on our Events pages or via the our Student Shout Out newsletter for the events planned for the week, including the Reclaim the Night March and Vigil.
As part of our Citizen Student Strategy we want University of Chester students to make a positive impact on society. The conversation around consent and healthy relationships is growing and we want to help our students understand why.
We offer “Consent and Healthy Relationship” workshops to students, where we discuss consent, what makes a healthy relationship, sexual violence and the impacts of trauma. In addition, there is an online Consent training module based on our workshop, designed to provide students and staff with the skills to understand and practice consent. Click here for our online workshop or visit our Events pages to view upcoming in-person events.
The Campus Climate survey highlighted that students feel education is a key part of keeping students safe. The Safer Streets funding led to the rollout of the Tackling Harassment: Promoting Cultural Change in Higher Education online training package. The training covers Bystander Intervention and Handling Disclosure topics. It’s available for all staff and students, but Key Representative Students would find this training particularly beneficial.
In addition to the online training, we will be running several in person workshops throughout the year, exploring these topics in further detail. Keep an eye on our Events pages to view upcoming in-person events.
Educating our staff on student safety is equally important to us as educating our students on these important issues. However, students fed back to us that, although students know about some of these initiatives, they didn’t realise the training that had gone into the staff delivering them.
We identified key staff members likely to receive disclosures of sexual violence – known as First Responders. Our First Responders received training developed by leading sexual violence consultancy, LimeCulture, on how to respond appropriately, compassionately and effectively to students making disclosures. This training was further tailored and delivered to other key staff, including security and student services staff. We hope this training will help our students to trust us with their disclosures and to be confident in our ability to support them.
Our team of Sexual Violence Liaison Officers (SVLOs) completed six days of accredited training with LimeCulture – including an exam with a 70% pass mark! SVLOs learnt specialist skills to identify and manage risk, effectively respond to disclosures of sexual violence and facilitate access to support and reporting services. SVLOs have regular opportunities to further their expertise and have received additional training on the judicial system, our internal investigations processes and local services role in supporting victims and survivors or sexual violence.
If you’d like more information on the initiatives discussed in this article, please contact k.moore@chester.ac.uk or visit our Events pages to check out details of upcoming events.
Start Date: 31 October 2022 12:00 pm
End Date: 31 October 2022 1:00 pm
Location: Coworking space 005, Remond House
Study at University Centre Warrington? Our Student Experience team want to hear from you!
They want to hear about your experience at UCW – and what opportunities and activities you’d like to get involved in. In this All Student Forum, you’ll get the chance to share your views, and meet keep representatives from the University and Chester Students’ Union.
No need to book – just drop in!
Start Date: 19 November 2022 11:00 am
End Date: 19 November 2022 3:00 pm
Location: The Contemporary Art Space Chester (CASC) Gallery, in the Forum Shopping Centre, Northgate Street, Chester
Dr Rebecca Collins, Deputy Head of Department and Senior Lecturer in Human Geography, Deborah Wynne, Professor of 19th-Century Literature, both from the University, and Holly Kirby from the National Trust, will host an event on Saturday November 19 exploring ways of breaking through our unsustainable relationships with garments in the 21st century.
An Archive of Stitches – The Living Histories, Geographies, and Biographies will be held from 11am to 3pm at The Contemporary Art Space Chester (CASC) Gallery, in the Forum Shopping Centre, Northgate Street, Chester.
Come along to this hands-on garment repair workshop and explore ways of breaking through our unsustainable relationships with garments in the 21st century. ‘An Archive of Stitches’ promotes the value of garment making and mending skills and you will be encouraged to join discussions about the lives, histories and geographies of your clothes.
The workshop will be led by Dr Rebecca Collins of the Pop-Up Patch Challenge Team, who will be on hand to help you learn simple garment repairs. Assistant Curator Holly Kirby will also give a talk on caring for a major historic costume collection at the National Trust’s Attingham Park.
Join ‘An Archive of Stitches’ to celebrate the value of remaking, repurposing, and repairing clothing in many different contexts.
Start Date: 12 November 2022 11:00 am
End Date: 12 November 2022 3:00 pm
Location: Cheshire Record Office, Duke Street, Chester CH1 1RL
Dr Rebecca Andrew, Senior Lecturer in History at the University, will be joined on Saturday November 12 by experts from Cheshire Archives and Local Studies to look at how the Browns family shaped modern Chester.
Browns of Chester was famous not only for its fashions but the store itself, holding a significant place in retail history. However, the Browns legacy in Chester is far more than a shop.
Come along and view a pop-up exhibition in the search room, explore items from the archive, and hear actors bring the story of the Browns family and the shop to life with performances based on the new Browns collection.
You will find out about nationally-significant ‘breakthroughs’ the Browns family were involved in across the City, such as transport, energy, and politics, as well as retail. Do you have a connection to Browns of Chester? Perhaps you’re interested in finding out how the history of the shop intertwines with that of the City?
Either book online or by calling the Record Office on 01244 972574.
Start Date: 25 October 2022 10:00 am
End Date: 25 October 2022 12:00 pm
Location: Exton Park
As a University of Chester student, we want you to make a positive impact on society. The conversation around consent and healthy relationships is growing and we want to help you to understand why.
Our Consent and Healthy Relationships workshop will cover what we mean when discussing consent, what constitutes a healthy relationship, sexual violence and the impacts of trauma. As a result, we will encourage our Key Representative Students to engage in conversations with fellow students on this topic and have the confidence to challenge negative behaviours or beliefs.
To book a place, please email k.moore@chester.ac.uk.
Can’t make our in-person workshops? We also have online Consent and Healthy Relationship workshops available on Moodle which only take 40 minutes to complete. Click here to access them.
Start Date: 20 October 2022 2:00 pm
End Date: 20 October 2022 4:00 pm
Location: Exton Park
As a University of Chester student, we want you to make a positive impact on society. The conversation around consent and healthy relationships is growing and we want to help you to understand why.
Our Consent and Healthy Relationships workshop will cover what we mean when discussing consent, what constitutes a healthy relationship, sexual violence and the impacts of trauma. As a result, we will encourage our Key Representative Students to engage in conversations with fellow students on this topic and have the confidence to challenge negative behaviours or beliefs.
To book a place, please email k.moore@chester.ac.uk.
Can’t make our in-person workshops? We also have online Consent and Healthy Relationship workshops available on Moodle which only take 40 minutes to complete. Click here to access them.
Start Date: 10 November 2022 5:00 pm
End Date: 10 November 2022 8:30 pm
Location: CSU Exton Park, then on to Storyhouse, then marching at the Town Hall
Calling all students! Join CSU as we march with CSASS to reclaim the streets of Chester!
Meet at CSU Exton Park at 5pm for face glitter and light up props, and then walk with us to Storyhouse to meet with Chester residents for banner making and poetry readings.* currently provisional.
The march itself will begin at 7.30pm outside the Town Hall, and we will do a couple of loops of the town centre.
The march will end at the cross where there will be a vigil for the victims of sexual violence, led by CSASS.
If you would like to contribute by speaking at the vigil, please email studentvoice@chester.ac.uk.
Student Voice and Insight Team or Chester Students’ Union, studentvoice@chester.ac.uk.
Start Date: 19 October 2022 2:00 pm
End Date: 19 October 2022 3:00 pm
Location: CSU, Exton Park
Come and meet your fellow mature students at our Mature Student Mixer on Wednesday 19 October at 2pm!
We will be at CSU, Exton Park providing cakes and hot drinks, so all have to do is focus on getting to know each other.
No need to book!
Start Date: 23 November 2022 2:30 pm
End Date: 23 November 2022 3:15 pm
Location: Online
Sleep has such a big impact on our mental health, so it’s a good idea to think about how your sleep is contributing to your wellbeing. Join us to find out more and to access resources for learning about what impacts a good night’s sleep, tips for better sleeping and steps to improve your sleep hygiene.
