For the first time there is going to be a Christmas Dinner taking place on Christmas day in Canterbury for any care leaver living or studying in Kent. Many young people who have grown up in local authority care feel excluded from the kind of family Christmas that many of us take for granted. We have a record number of care leaver students at Kent this year, and they have all been invited!

Please come along to our Coffee and Cake event in the Keynes Teaching Foyer from 12.00-14.00 on Tuesday 5 December where we will be offering coffee and cake in exchange for a gift or stocking filler for our Christmas Dinner guests.

To find out more about the project, please search for “Canterbury’s Christmas Dinner” on Facebook or click here to join the mailing list.

You can also choose a gift from the Amazon Wish List here or take a look at our crowdfunding page here if you would prefer to make a cash donation.

Eliot College – Annual Maintenance

Saturday 16 December 2017 – Friday 12 January 2018

From 16 – 21 December 2017 and from 3 – 12 January 2018 the annual maintenance in Eliot College is due to take place between 10.00 – 19.00.

Fire alarm testing will also take place on 17 December from 13.30 – 15.00 in Eliot College, Eliot Extension, Becket Court and the Senate and Mandela buildings, where the fire alarms will sound continuously; this is to ensure they are operating correctly.

There will be electrical testing of study bedroom corridors and cleaning and re-lamping of lighting in general areas and teaching spaces.

Electrical safety checks will be carried out in the main kitchen and Mungos Bar.

Keynes College – Annual Maintenance

Saturday 16 December 2017 – Friday 12 January 2018

From 16 – 21 December 2017 and from 3 – 12 January 2018 the annual maintenance in Keynes College is due to take place.

Fire alarm testing will also take place on Sunday 7 January from 13.30 – 15.00 in Keynes College and Careers where the fire alarms will sound continuously; this is to ensure they are operating correctly.

There will be electrical testing of study bedroom corridors and cleaning and re-lamping of lighting in general areas and teaching spaces.

Electrical safety checks will be carried out in Dolche Vita and K Bar.

We apologise for any inconvenience this work may cause, if you have any queries please contact the Estates Helpdesk on extn. 3209.

From November 2017, all Kent students wherever they are located can access free, 24/7 online support for issues around mental health and wellbeing.

The Big White Wall (BWW) is a Care Quality Commission registered service recognised nationally through awards by the NHS and is a safe environment overseen by qualified therapists called Wall Guides. It offers:

• peer talk therapies where members initiate or join forums on topics ranging from depression and anxiety to relationship issues, work stress, abuse, self-harm and eating disorders
• peer support and networks where students make friends to create a support network as a reference group, source of motivation and a means to improve self-awareness
• creative therapies employing art and writing therapies where members express themselves on ‘bricks’ that are posted to the Big White Wall where they can choose to share and discuss the underlying ‘story’
• brief counselling providing immediate 24/7 support from Big White Wall Guides who are trained counsellors
• 24/7 guided groups that are based in therapeutic approaches such as interpersonal therapy and cognitive behaviour therapy You can find a link to the Big White Wall here.

How students can register

In order to gain access to this service students can click on the BWW link using their Kent email address to gain access.

As part of the registration process, please advise students not to use their Kent IT account password for this service.

Please note that students may, upon completion of the registration process, change their contact email address to a non-Kent email account.

Big White Wall takes privacy very seriously and you can find their privacy policy here.