Jade Haley - Students' Union President

You Said... We Listened - Celebration Week

Thu, 29 Jun 2017 14:09:00 +0100

Hi guys,

Thanks very much for all taking the time to send us your feedback about Celebration Week (Colours Ball & Union Awards). We thought it would be right to respond to some of your comments and points gathered from the SurveyMonkey. The feedback for both Colours Ball and Union Awards was overwhelmingly positive and we thank you for your support in this respect. They are both major events for us to organise as a relatively small team and we were also really grateful to the support from the University in staging them. We’d like to clarify a few things however, because the format was different for each event from last year and we want you to understand that we always work to put students first (and some of the feedback was quite visceral!)

The events were in no way organised to make any profit for the Union, quite the opposite - the Union made a small deficit from the combined events. The decision was made to hold both events in the Arena as we felt students would feel an affinity to the venue, it was closer and marginally cheaper than Stanbrook Abbey. This was due to the fact that the University Arena kindly waived the venue hire fee for us. We did, however, pay for the dressing of the venue including draping, dance floor, equipment, and staffing etc. which is not an insubstantial amount.

We wholly take on board the feedback regarding the food at Colours Ball in particular and have passed this onto the venue caterers. Regarding the fact that there were no free drinks at the Pear Tree, the Union has to use its charitable funds in a responsible way and in this respect, was not prepared to offer free drinks like it did last year. We will however, look into other means of securing free drink options for you next year through sponsorship. The ticket pricing was set at a level we felt was genuinely affordable for students and the Union and it covered more than just the food on the night, for example the decorations, the staffing, the equipment etc. We do accept that for some the food was not good enough this year.

Overall, we hope you enjoyed the events. We’ve learnt a lot from holding them and from the feedback you have given us and are in discussions with the Arena and their partners to see how we can continue to improve on future events. We took a risk, but ultimately we felt that it paid off and hope you would agree. We felt the atmosphere on both nights was amazing and it made us feel so proud of our lovely student body.

See you soon,

Jade.

Green Impact Galore

Mon, 26 Jun 2017 11:00:00 +0100

Well, it has been a busy few weeks but things are starting to settle down. It has been really exciting working with Euan and Sophie so far and they are settling in perfectly. This week, I found out we have achieved Very Good in NUS Green Impact. I worked really hard on this project, along with other members of the SU. It was a challenging, but enjoyable experience and I am glad we have achieved the second highest accreditation. Thanks must go to Katy Boom (Director of Sustainability) for her continued support and involvement in our submission. We will receive the award at SU17 next week in Birmingham.

This week is set to be quite a busy one, Academic Board, Objective Setting and various meeting around Welcome Week. The planning for Welcome Week is going well so far, we are making sure we are doing plenty for all students and in particular those who arrive earlier (Professional courses and International Students). It was one of my manifesto aims this year and I think it is really important they have just as good an experience.

Sunday 25^th saw the first Open Day of the year and it was great to speak to lots of prospective students about the SU and what we do. There were so many of them interested in Sports and Societies as well as our events and other activities.

That is about it for now.

Peace Out

Jade.

Starting my second term at Worcester SU

Wed, 14 Jun 2017 09:02:00 +0100

First and foremost, thank you so much for re-electing me to be your Student Union President! I have worked very hard over this last year to fulfil everything I set out to do in my manifesto and am pleased to say that I have done so. I have to thank everyone in the SU as they have been so supportive and helpful over the last year. Helping facilitate our aims as well as ensuring we move forward as an organisation. I am very excited to work with Euan and Sophie this year, although I will be very sad to see James and Hemaka leave (though hopefully the office won't smell of sports kit anymore)! When running for re-election, I based my manifesto on things I have learnt and seen myself over the last academic year. This is why I thought my points were relevant and necessary to our student body to increase student satisfaction and enhance the student experience.

I want to ensure that students who are studying professional courses (nursing, teaching, midwifery and paramedics) have the best experience possible. They have different needs compared to our other students and they spend the majority of their time on placements and in a more professional environment. We need to make sure that we are facilitating their needs and improving our relationship so we can try to get them involved with the Union, but in a way they want to get involved.

Similarly, students based at city campus tend to have a very different experience compared to those based on St. John's. I want to continue to lobby the University to provide better social space for students based at City and ensure the SU has a consistent presence on this site. It is so important that there is no segregation between sites and we need to make sure that we can do whatever is in our power to ensure this doesn’t continue to happen.

Employability is also a big one for me. This year I have created a booklet on application form guidance and look to do one next year on interview skills/tips. This is done in collaboration with the University careers department and something we both want to look to see grow and develop in the future. The big plan is to create an online portal for students to seek guidance on all aspects of employability so that when they leave Worcester with their degrees, they are in the best place possible and ready to enter the world of work in an appropriate and professional manner.

As well as these, I really want to continue to run general welfare campaigns over the next academic year. Focusing largely on Mental Health but being sure to include others aspects such as student safety, anti-bullying and sexual health campaigns. Students are continuing to have building pressures and expectations and so it is important we can be there for them as much as possible and provide the best level of support to them.

Once again, thank you so much for allowing me another year in this position and I promise to complete everything I have proposed to do! As always, if you ever need anything over the next academic year please don’t hesitate to get in touch. You can pop into the SU for a chat or drop me a line at jade.haley@worc.ac.uk. Have a great summer y’alllllll!

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Email: jade.haley@worc.ac.uk

Red Nose Day for Comic Relief at the Students’ Union

Wed, 08 Mar 2017 17:02:00 Z

One of the things that the three officers, James (VP Education), Hemi (VP Student Activities) and I pledged to do at the beginning of the year was more national fundraising! Our first step was Children in Need – we cycled the distance of the River Severn and then cycled back to Worcester, on static bikes in the Students’ Union! It did take us all day and lots of energy but it was very rewarding when we counted that we had raised £686.96 for Children in Need!

We have given ourselves a high target to reach for again, £500, but you need to think big to be big. We have lots of stuff planned for Red Nose Day. All staff are wearing red to work to help raise awareness. Throughout the day, there will be activities going and as we hit our fundraising targets, fun punishments will be unlocked for each of the officers. When we raise £100 James will have his hair sprayed red, when we raise £200 Hemi will spray his notorious beard red. When we reach that £500 mark, I will be getting gunged! There will be many other activities throughout the day led by our Sports and Societies so be sure to keep an eye out and get involved! If you have any ideas to raise some money for Comic Relief then come and see us or drop Hemaka an email h.pathiranage@worc.ac.uk

We cannot wait! See you on 24^thMarch.

Jade

Donate here: https://my.rednoseday.com/sponsor/worcsu

Fabulous February!

Fri, 10 Feb 2017 15:01:00 Z

Hey everyone!

I hope you are all settling into Semester 2 nicely and not feeling too overwhelmed by new modules and module selections for next year if you are 1^st or 2^nd year! It can be a difficult time with a lot of pressure but try to enjoy it and keep on top of your workload! If you do feel like you are struggling remember we have an advisor who you can talk to if you feel like it is all getting too much. Alternatively feel free to pop in or contact me, as I will always be here to help.

Refresher’s Week came very quickly; I hope there was something during that week that interested you. We had over 600 students attending the Housing Fair, with lots of choice as we had 48 landlords on Monday and 36 on the Tuesday. If you have any feedback about the housing fair there is a short survey which we would really appreciate you completing the survey so we can make sure it suits you better next year.

We also have a vacancy for a Student Trustee which can be great to improve your skills and employability levels. The Board of Trustees is responsible for the management and administration of the Students’ Union and its powers include responsibility for the governance of the charity, the budget and the strategy.If you would like to know more about this position there is plenty of information on the website here - or you can email me.

Recently I have been involved with a few recruitment panels for the University. On the 8th of February, I was on the interview panel for a new Mental Health Advisor and next week I am interviewing for the new Student Services firstpoint Manager. The University do really value my opinion on these panels, as they want to ensure the candidates are student friendly and appropriate.

There is lots of exciting things coming up in the Union over the coming months so keep a look out and get involved!

Thanks,

Jade.