Author Archives: Miriam Sandiford

Success at TUCO Awards for Kent Hospitality

Congratulations are in order for the catering team at Kent Hospitality as they were awarded the prestigious ‘Member of the Year’ Award at the 2019 TUCO (The University Caterers’ Organisation) Annual Conference earlier this month, held at the University of York.

The award recognises the institution that has made the most significant contribution to the work of TUCO with Kent praised for their support of framework agreements, attendance at events, training courses, tender working parties and other activities. The other two shortlisted Institutions were the University of Manchester and the University of St Andrews.

Head of Trading, Keith Williams said on the win: ‘Our team are delighted to have won this award reflecting the efforts put in to bring a quality service to Kent. We have played an active role in TUCO over the last few decades, recognising it as the perfect platform to benchmark against competitors, train and develop our team and benefit from leading market research and trend data by remaining up to date on industry standards and contributing to the work of TUCO. To have this recognised is a great honour.’

TUCO is the leading professional membership body for in-house caterers operating in the higher, further education and public sector. They are committed to advancing the learning and development of catering and hospitality teams, and work to provide quality standards, advice and information to those working in in-house catering.

Hello Kent welcome campaign update

Every year we run our welcome campaign for new and returning students.

This year the welcome campaign is a joint University and Kent Union project and is part of the Hello Kent initiative, an outcome of the Welcome, Induction and Transition project commissioned by Student Experience Board.

The campaign will feature on buses and bus stops, buildings and poster sites, e-newsletters and digital screens as well as t-shirts worn by helpers and even a Hello Kent tent run by Kent Union.

The main welcome website, which includes advice blogs and events, is now live: www.kent.ac.uk/hello

Hello Kent branded images and templates for posters and plasma screens are now available to download from the branding website

Schools will receive printed Hello Kent marketing packs over the next few days.

If you have any questions or want to learn more, contact communications@kent.ac.uk

Reminder – book now for National Cycle to Work Day free breakfast

Don’t forget – registration closes for this event at 10.00 on Tuesday 6 August!

National Cycle to Work Day is Thursday 8 August. To celebrate this, and to encourage a greener campus, you are invited to breakfast at Jarman Plaza (opposite Blackwell’s Bookshop) 8.00-9.00.

All you need to do is cycle to campus on that day and come and enjoy a free breakfast and cuppa.

To help us get an idea of numbers for catering, please register on Eventbrite by Tuesday 10.00. Don’t worry about bringing a ticket to the event. Just turn up with your bike and join us.

Dr Bike will be in attendance. Dr Bike (Chris) provides bike repairs on campus each Wednesday at the Cycle Hub near the Sports Pavilion.

We look forward to seeing you on Thursday morning.

Sustainability celebrations at Kent Community Oasis Garden

Last week, sustainability champions from across the University celebrated the first year anniversary of the FutureProof project at a garden party held at the Kent Community Oasis Garden.

FutureProof is the University of Kent’s response to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and provides a framework, challenging and supporting each University department to review their impacts against the SDGs and working to create positive change.

FutureProof, which launched in June 2018, aims to inspire individuals, departments and the whole University community to take action in ensuring that our estate, our curriculum and our students are ready for the future.

The Sustainability Champions are key to the project’s success as they act as catalysts for change in their departments and conduits for sustainability information across the University. As part of their role as champions they lead on their own projects and the celebration event was the sustainability’s team way of saying thank you to them for all their hard work.

The event highlighted case studies from the year, which can be read in full in the Futureproof report

Projects have included a tripling of recycling rates in Biosciences, education for sustainable development projects at the Business School and a wellbeing project at the Medway campus.

To celebrate, the sun came out for a delicious vegan BBQ prepared by chef Ben Elsbury (from Kent Hospitality), games with prizes to be won, and a refreshing mocktail bar with fresh herbs from the garden.

In its first year FutureProof has held 6 workshops at both the Canterbury and Medway campuses with an overall attendance across them of 124, recruited 65 sustainability champions from 43 different departments, and supported 20 sustainability projects from across the University.

For more information about FutureProof please visit www.kent.ac.uk/sustainability or email sustainability@kent.ac.uk

Park Wood Co-op opening Thursday 25 July

The new Kent Union Co-op located in Park Wood is opening Thursday 25 July at 10.00.

Students, staff and visitors are welcome to attend the opening. There will be free samples given out, and you can search for the Golden Tickets across campus to win gift cards on the day!

Students with an NUS Totem card will receive 10% off Co-op branded products, plus another 5% off if they become a Co-op member (only £1 to join).

August exams 2019

My timetable

1 August – 15 August 2019

You can view your timetable by logging into your Student Data System (SDS)

What time should I arrive?

Morning exams begin at 9.30, you should arrive 15 minutes early.

Where is my exam venue?

Not sure where you need to go? – See our Venues

What should I bring?

KentOne Card. If you have lost this please contact us
Pens, pencils and writing equipment (in a clear pencil case)
Still water (ONLY) in a clear plastic bottle

What can I do with my mobile phone?

You are permitted to bring the following small items into the exam venue:

Mobile phones, smartwatches, headphones, keys and wallets.

You must place these under your desks and ensure all electronic items are switched off.

Electronic items that are concealed from invigilators or make any sound during your exam (ringing, text notifications, alarms etc) will be reported to your school.

NO Bag Room

There will be NO bag room available to students. Please avoid bringing a bag by leaving this at home or in your car.

NO bags are allowed in exam halls.

Resit fee payments

You will have already received an email explaining how to make payment for your resits via the online store.

The deadline to pay via the online store is Monday 29 July. After this date, any unpaid fees will be added to your student account.

Please note that students who are absent from a resit (without notifying us in writing prior to the start of the examination period at exams@kent.ac.uk) are still liable to pay fee.

Please note that all students taking exams are required to read the University Regulations for the conduct of examinations.

If you have, any questions please contact Canterbury: exams@kent.ac.uk or Medway: medwayexams@kent.ac.uk

See Exams webpage for more information.

Follow @UniKent_CSAO on twitter

Summer shop closures

This summer the campus shops are being redeveloped as part of Kent Union’s partnership with Co-op.

As a result the Park Wood shop is closed until Thursday 25 July when it will reopen as Kent Union’s Park Wood Co-op, and the main Student Union Shop will close on Thursday 25 July reopening as Kent Union’s Co-op on Thursday 29 August.

While the main SU Shop is closed there will be a pop-up store on the Plaza selling meal deal sandwiches, drinks and crisps, confectionary, tea, coffee, sugar, biscuits, newspapers, fresh fruit, bread and some groceries. The pop-up will open daily from 24 July until 28 August, 10.00- 20.00.

University of Kent Wellbeing Zone Hub

Summer might be the ideal time to focus on our health and wellbeing needs. The University is still busy but some of the pressures of the processes of the Academic Year have reduced giving staff an opportunity to take a breath, pause and consider their own needs.

Signing up to the University of Kent Staff Wellbeing Zone is exactly what you need to help you focus on your own wellbeing needs:

It has a simple Wellbeing Assessment Tool
Guidance in how to formulate wellbeing goals
Exercise and Diet programmes to follow that have been put together to work
Recipes to tempt you to eat more healthily
Lots and lots of informative articles on all aspects of wellbeing:
- Health Eating
- Activity
- Alcohol intake
- Mental Health
- Meditation

It’s all completely confidential and free. And you can connect it to other fitness trackers or wearables that you already use.

You don’t need to register; simply hit the Log In button and use the university login.

Early SU shop closure for stock take- 21 July

The Student Union shop on the Plaza will close at 14.00 Sunday 21 July for stock take.

The Park Wood shop will still be closed for refurbishment at this time, so this means that there will be no stores open from 14.00 21 July – 7.00 22nd July when the SU shop on the Plaza will be open again.

We apologise for any inconvenience.