To all residents moving in this weekend

Welcome to Connaught Hall!

We have organised a few events over the next couple of weeks to help you meet one another and the staff in Hall. The first is on Sunday 15 September: tea & cakes in the reception lobby, 2.30 till 5.30 pm. Check the posters in Hall, and find us on Facebook and Twitter for details of all the other things we are putting on for you.

It is with great regret that I now find myself unable to join you for all of this week’s afternoon tea. I unexpectedly have to provide night shift cover as the doctor in charge of University College Hospital accident & emergency department (UCH A&E, where I work when I am not doing Warden things) all weekend. But I will do my best to make it to the last half hour or so of afternoon tea.

So I am sad that I shall not get to meet so many of you this weekend, but there will be lots more opportunities for us to meet in the next few weeks, including our curry night on Tuesday and more afternoon tea events every Sunday in September.

I hope you enjoy your time here at Connaught Hall and that this year is happy, safe, and productive for you.

Please get in touch in you have any worries or questions.

Afternoon tea 2011

It has been a busy week at Connaught Hall, with over 200 residents arriving since last Saturday.

On the two Sundays, 18th and 25th September, the Senior Members and I hosted afternoon tea - http://www.flickr.com/photos/connaughthall/6184826736/ - with a whole load of delicious cakes and biscuits. I hope these events serve to ease anxieties about moving in, not meeting anyone, and the inevitable "parent separation" at the end of the day (I'm sure this is more for your parents' benefit, though!).

It's also a very enjoyable opportunity for me to get to meet everyone as they move in and help out with any small problems they might have come up against. This year, our afternoon teas were especially busy - we really struggled to keep up the tea & coffee supplies yesterday. I am really pelased that so many people came to take advantage of this. I have met so many very pleasant students this week which makes me look forward to a great year again!

I am sorry about the dinner queue last night. This was much longer than usual, maybe because there was a large influx at the beginning going straight down from afternoon tea. Rest assured it will not be a recurrent problem beyond the early freshers period - but of course this isn't something you want to experience on your first day here. I hope the wine I was able to serve to those who had queued the longest went some way to help.

The final afternoon tea event this year will be on Sunday 2nd October. All current residents are welcome - especially if I haven't met you yet, please come and say hello!

Afternoon tea

Afternoon tea on the first two Sundays of this academic year has been very well attended. I've had the pleasure of meeting lots of this year's freshers as well as catching up with the news from returning students.

The attendance has been so much better than the last few years yet the only difference from the organisational side is that this year we have music in the lobby (it's a collection of Glen Miller's best known tracks, if you were wondering). The music certainly does help create a really nice atmosphere.

I'm looking forward to meeting more residents this afternoon for the third and final Sunday afternoon tea of this term.

Residents' Survey - Senior Members

Responses to Residents' Survey 9: Senior Members

Continuing my series of blog posts to repond to residents' comments in the February 2010 intercollegiate halls residents' survey. A summary of responses to the multiple choice questions on the survey can be seen here: Residents' Survey results. And you can filter this blog so just the survey-related posts show by clicking on "survey" in the list of labels on the right hand side.


Two or three survey respondents expressed a desire for the Senior Members to be more visible in the Hall, saying they thought this might make them more approachable.

Relevant guidance in the post description for Senior Members includes:

Senior Members are required to interest themselves in the welfare of students and to assist the Warden with the pastoral, disciplinary and social duties within the Hall to promote a supportive and harmonious living environment for students. Senior Members should participate in – and help to organise – the social life of the Hall. One of their most important roles is mixing with students and keeping in touch with what is happening in the resident community; they are expected to eat in the Hall restaurant regularly as this is one of the best ways to meet other residents. Senior Members must always present a professional but approachable manner and it is essential they set a good example to other students at all times.

Specific duties include:

[...]
- participation in welcome receptions to ensure all new students are greeted;
- attendance at social events throughout the year;
[...]

I think the Senior Members by and large achieve most of these goals but at a recent staff meeting we agreed to provide a more visible presence in the dining hall at meal times and to visit the Hall bar every couple of weeks.

In previous years, the Senior Members and I have hosted afternoon tea every Sunday in the reception lobby - but this did not fulfil our objective of encouraging residents to approach us to discuss difficulties and was often quite poorly attended; so I replaced this event with my regular open office sessions (openoffice.connaught-hall.org.uk).

At our meeting we decided to bring back afternoon tea on select weekends throughout the year. Look out for posters advertising the first event later this term.