SSLC – 22nd March 2022
Students’ Union President Update
SU Constitution Review 2022 – Executive Team Shake Up/ NUS
All of us at the SU has been busy working behind the scenes over the past month, updating and editing our constitution, making improvements to the Basement Bar and future proofing the Union so it can run as smoothly and most effective in the years to come.
One of these significant changes that we have made is restructuring the SU Executive team. After discussion with Student Representatives, a vote took place a couple of weeks ago to remove the Vice-President Role for Welfare, add in a Marketing & Communications Officer and change the Vice-President’s titles to ‘Officer’ roles; all of these changes will come into place from the 2022-23 Academic Year.
The Welfare VP position is a role that has proved to have many issues in the past few years, including safeguarding and mental health issues. We believe that it’s unfair for an un-trained student-elected into the position to have these responsibilities alongside studying for a full-time degree. This removal of the Welfare role was widely discussed amongst Elle (VP Welfare), the SU Executive team and myself. We wholeheartedly believe this is the correct decision for the Union moving forward in years to come so that students get the proper professional advice and help regarding welfare and well-being, and in addition that the Union are safeguarding the other Executive Union team members.
We are very excited about adding a new officer role for Marketing & Communications to the Union Executive team; this is a role that is perfect for anyone who is tech-savvy and fancies working on their marketing and communication skills whilst earning some money along the way!
The new SU Executive structure for 2022-23
President (Full Time)
Events & Societies Officer (Part-Time)
Marketing & Communications Officer (Part-Time)
Academic Affairs Officer (Part-Time)
Finance Officer (Part-Time)
Diversity Officer (Part-Time)
The last significant change that was voted upon by student reps was the decision to disaffiliate with NUS Main Body, officially leaving at the end of this year in December. So what will we lose from disaffiliating from the full NUS Membership? As a student, you will not see any difference from what it is now; it is as simple as that. Previously being affiliated with NUS meant you had access to discounts via the NUS Student Card; however, a couple of years back, the NUS card was replaced by the TOTUM Card and is very much a separate thing now. This means that as a Guildhall Student when we disaffiliate, you will still have access to buy the TOTUM Student Discount. Finally, we will be able to use the sizable membership fee that we spent on our full NUS Membership on things that actually matter to our student body. We will remain affiliated with the NUS Charity, where we still reap the benefits from a trading aspect, such as our bar discounts. Our membership with the NUS charity is only 0.5% of our block grant.
SU Elections 2022
Elections for the 2022-23 Executive Committee of the Students’ Union will take place May, 2022.
The following roles will be contested:
President
Academic Affairs Officer
Events & Societies Officer
Finance Officer
Diversity Officer
Marketing and Communications Officer
The role of President is a full-time sabbatical role. The President receives a bursary which is currently £21,640 per annum. Students can either stand for the role part way through their studies, and intermit for a year, OR stand in their final year of studies.
The officer roles are all part-time roles for current students. The officers receive a grant which is currently £1,623 per annum. Students are eligible to stand for these roles if they will be returning as student the following academic year.
Dates and Deadlines
Nomination deadline – Monday 25 April, 1pm
Candidates’ Briefing – 3 May, 1pm (via Teams)
Campaigning starts – 3 May, 5pm
Voting – 16 – 17 May (closes 4pm)
Interested?
If you are interested in being part of the SU Executive Committee next year, please refer to the Candidates Pack and Constitution for more information about what each of the roles involves, and how to stand in the elections. Or visit the page on MyGuildhall.
Submit your completed nomination form and manifesto by 1pm, Monday 25 April.
If you are interested in standing for the role of President, or one of the VP roles, you are also welcome to contact Julia Oliver (Student Life Officer) or Harry Plant (current SU President) for more information.
Events Round-Up
Since the last SSLC Meeting, the SU has held several fantastic events in the Basement Bar, including 4 Jazz Jams, Wrap Parties for both the Intimate Apparel, Road and Urinetown the Musical, Guildhall Karaoke, ACS Carnival, St Patricks Day/ GSO Afterparty and one of the most successful charity event nights that the SU have helped host, the Litty Committee. This Charity Event was fantastically organised by Ebenezer Gyau (Acting Student) and was all in aid of Project Period.
Not only did the DJs play for a total of 7 hours straight, which is mental in itself, the night brought together Acting, Production Arts and Music students from right across the school, culminating in over £450 being raised. It was a fantastic event, and I would really like to thank Ebenezer, Darcie (Events VP), and everyone involved that evening for such a successful event!
Looking ahead now, we have one last Jazz Jam and the big End of Term party to round off the terms events schedule! As usual, you can check out all the event details on our website at https://guildhallsu.com/events/.
New TV’s in Basement
We have now fitted up and connected our 3 new TV’s in the Basement Bar!
Library
Vacation Easter opening
From Saturday 2nd April to Monday 25th April, the Library will be open its usual vacation hours:
9.30-16.45 Monday to Friday. We are not open on Saturdays in the vacation, and we will also be
closed on Good Friday 15th April, and Easter Monday, 18th April. Our updates are always made on
our MyGuildhall pages and added to the library@gsmd.ac.uk e-mail signature, please keep checking
in with MyGuildhall for the latest information.
Access & Participation
Reporting and Regulation
As outlined in the January update, the Office for Students will be changing Access and Participation
regulation going forward. There will be three stages to this:
2020/21 monitoring – Each year the School is required to submit a monitoring return to
demonstrate progress against Access and Participation targets, and the reasonable measures
implemented for success. Not every provider will be required to submit this return in 2022 –
as of yet, the OfS have not contacted the providers required to submit. We have, however,
already prepared, and received approval for, a report for the Board of Governors. This is
circulated with this report. If a monitoring return is required, the majority of the work has
been completed already via the preparation of this report.
2023/24 Access and Participation variation – Every provider will be asked to adapt their
existing Access and Participation Plan, ready for implementation in September 2023. The
changes will incorporate some of the new areas of focus for the OfS, including pre-16
attainment raising and school partnerships, evaluation and on-course student support.
Guidance for the variation is expected in early April, and student and staff consultations will
take place shortly after.
A new, four year Access and Participation Plan – Every provider will write a brand new,
four year Plan, implemented from September 2024. Further guidance on this is yet to be
released.
Students are essential to the development of Access and Participation, and will be consulted at every
stage.
Access Bursary 2022/23
We intend to expand the financial eligibility for the Access Bursary next year, in recognition of the
rising cost of living, and lack of aligned increase in student maintenance loans. The updated policy
will be circulated at Operations Board on 17th March for approval. The Access Financial Support
Policy will be circulated with staff and students, and available online, once finalised.
Neurodiversity network
The School is setting up a new programme to support neurodivergent students with their academic
and career progression. The Neurodiversity Network are invited to lead on the project with the
support of Access and Participation. Students taking part in activity will need to agree to the School
monitoring their progression and give feedback on the programme. Initial events will take place this
academic year and inform the offer for future years.
Last week, some members of the Neurodiversity Network met with the project lead, Ellen Paine, and
proposed a brilliant range of resources and activities, but there is still time for anyone to add their
suggestions by using the group’s Facebook page or emailing ellen.paine@gsmd.ac.uk.
Initial suggestions for activity included:
A toolkit of resources to access now and after Guildhall
Ideas for language to use when describing the support you need in the workplace
Talks from neurodivergent practitioners
Mindful Music Making session
A guide to getting the most from assistive technologies
Please get in touch with ideas and spread the word to anyone who might be interested in the
Network!
Festival of Support 2022
The team ran another Festival of Support this February for the applicants on the Supported
Application Scheme. The festival ran in a hybrid format this year – offering over 50 hours of
sessions online as well an on-site day at the school. Applicants from all over the UK took part in
online workshops on topics as diverse as mindfulness, budgeting, and an intro to improvisation!
Feedback from the festival has been very positive, with 97% of respondents stating that it exceeded or
met their expectations. 91% of respondents rated the festival a 4 or 5 out of 5 and 97% would
recommend the festival to a friend.
Word Cloud from Festival of Support feedback 2022.
Get Backstage
This April we will running our brand new Production Arts access project. Get Backstage is a threeday programme that will see 12 students in years 11 & 12 come to Guildhall for two days to take part
in workshops from across the Production Arts pathways (Video, Lighting, Stage Management, and
Costume). They will meet current students and tour the school. We are delighted to be collaborating
with the team at Dr Who Time Fracture for the third and final day of the programme; participants
will see the immersive show and then receive a backstage tour.
IT
Sundial court WiFi
We are still waiting for the necessary networking equipment to arrive to facilitate the Sundial court
WiFi upgrade, but am hopeful at least some of it should become available within the next three
weeks, where we will begin to install the kit, meaning significant improvements in the quality of
the WiFi provision in the building.
Midi keyboards for the Silk st common room
Harry mentioned at the previous SSLC that midi keyboards attached to several pc’s in the silk st
common room would be useful, so we have placed an order for three and they should arrive shortly,
where well install them and notify the SU team
Student Affairs
Welcome to our new Administrator
Annie Hodson joins Student Affairs on Monday 21 March as our new full-time Administrator, we
look forward to welcoming her and introducing her to all! Annie will be based at the reception desk
in our Sundial Court office and will be able to assist students in making appointments, providing
information about services, and signposting to internal and external resources.
Counselling
Students can self-refer to the counselling service using the online form on MyGuildhall. This asks
students to provide their availability for the next three weeks for an initial appointment with a
member of the counselling team. The form has also been updated with some additional questions
that will help the counselling service to identify and prioritise particularly vulnerable students.
We currently have 13 counsellors, offering 85 hours per week, plus 3 Group Counsellors who run
weekly sessions for up to 6 students per group, which makes us the most well-resourced counselling
service among the conservatoire sector.
However, the past two years – from the pandemic to recent events in Ukraine – have had a
the significant toll on student mental health and requests for counselling are 21% higher than they were
this time last year.
The counselling service has therefore introduced some temporary measures with a view to
minimising the amount of time any student has to wait for counselling, including:
reducing the standard initial offer for students who are starting counselling from up to 10
sessions to up to 6 sessions, with the flexibility and discretion to extend this for students who
are assessed as being at greater levels of risk.
· new wellbeing groups – the service has recruited an additional counsellor to run weekly
support groups for students who have had an initial assessment appointment with a member
of the counselling service, and who are waiting for further counselling. Students will be
referred to the group by the counsellor who conducts their assessment.
Students who are interested in group counselling should discuss this during their initial
appointment as there is some scope for ‘fast-tracking’ those students into groups. (However, as is
usual for this type of therapy, counselling groups will close to new students early in the summer
term)
We are also developing other support initiatives for next term, including a free Yoga for the
Mind course (run by Senior Health and Welfare Advisor, Hannah Goodwin) – a 12-week
programme for anyone looking to reduce stress, anxiety and / or depression. Hannah is also
exploring the possibility of offering twice weekly, 30 minute ‘Stretch and Relax’ drop-in sessions
over lunch times.
Neurodiverse Network: special Access and Participation project
The School is setting up a new programme to support neurodivergent students with their academic
and career progression. The Neurodiversity Network are invited to lead on the project with the
support of the Access and Participation Office. Students taking part will need to agree to the School
monitoring their progression and give feedback on the programme. Initial events will take place this
academic year and inform the offer for future years.
Students who met earlier this month proposed a brilliant range of resources and activities but there
is still time for anyone to add their suggestions by using the Facebook page or
emailing ellen.paine@gsmd.ac.uk.
Initial suggestions included:
A toolkit of resources to access now and after Guildhall
Ideas for language to use when describing the support you need in the workplace
Talks from neurodivergent practitioners
Mindful Music Making session
A guide to getting the most from assistive technologies
Please get in touch with ideas and spread the word to anyone who might be interested in the
Network!
Reminder: Student Wellbeing Hub
The Wellbeing Hub on MyGuildhall is a platform to bring together information about a wide range
of wellbeing initiatives taking place at the School – including free courses and drop-ins. Some of the
upcoming initiatives advertised on the Hub include:
Wellbeing Drop in with Hannah Goodwin (Senior Health and Welfare Advisor)
Wednesday 23 March (12-2pm, in Student Affairs, Sundial Court)
Wednesday 30 March (12-2pm, in Student Affairs, Sundial Court)
Study Skills Drop in with Catherine Cranston (Study Skills Tutor)
29th March (12.30 – 2pm, in Room 204 Silk Street, or message Catherine on Teams).
NHS Sexual Health Clinic
4 April (12-2pm, Student Affairs)
Please refer to the Wellbeing Hub for more information! Support and wellbeing info is also
available on the Student Affairs pages, including recently added accommodation advice resources for
students looking for somewhere to live next year.
Facilities
Printing and Tops Ups
We are aware of the increased issues with both printing and topping up of cards which has been
exacerbated by the recent change to the access control system requiring new ID cards. Having
introduced a simpler refund system we are now looking at the entire operation.
On Wed 16th March, in liaison with the IT, the Ops team are meeting with our providers to review
the whole process to improve service reliability and streamlining. This has been a long standing issue
that is having an impact on quality of the experience and therefore we will keep the SSLC updated at
each meeting on progress and changes.
There is a top up machine located in the common rooms in Silk Street and Milton Court buildings. If
you experience issues, please do not hesitate to contact Silk Street Front Desk or Milton Court Stage
Door or alternatively log on the facilities helpdesk on MyGuildhall.
Security
As you will all know, the Ops team increased the security provision at all the School buildings in
response to a couple of incidents. Thank you for helping to make the School safe and for continuing
to be alert but not alarmed.
We request that all students continue to wear their ID passes and would like to ask all students who
require a new pass because theirs is either lost, illegible, etc to come forward and request one at no
cost to the student. Please complete the form in facilities section on MyGuildhall.
Operations/Facilities team changes
Many of you will have met Jurate Ciuzauskyte, one of our interim facilities managers. She has now
left to take up an exciting position near where she lives and will be performing a similar role at her
local health and fitness centre. We wish her well in her new career.
Harriet Davis will be joining us from April and will be onboarding throughout March so please do
say hello.
Recording & AV
Work continues apace in Recording & AV, supporting work across the School.
The final year Acting Solos project has begun with support from the department and we recently
delivered the 2nd year screen-acting project with external TV directors Sarah Esdaile and
Ryan Laccohee, as well as the 1st year screen acting sessions and ADR recording sessions with director
Jane Perry. Rep dramas Road and Intimate Apparel as well as Urinetown, The Musical and Miss
Fortune and the Telephone, the Spring Opera double bill have all been recorded in multicam HD for
broadcast on the school website.
The Studio Orchestra Motown project, early in the term, was a great success, giving students an
opportunity to record in a TV studio style setting. Our packed schedule of recording studio sessions
continues to give students access to a professional recording environment for no cost.
Registry update
NSS 2022 – final year undergraduate students only Final year undergraduate students should have received
an email inviting them to take part in this year’s National Student Survey (NSS 2022). It is important that the NSS
reflects the views of all final year undergraduate students
so please take part. Students can complete the survey at
http://www.thestudentsurvey.com
Thank you to all the students who have completed the
survey so far. Once you have completed the survey,
please do visit the Music Office, Silk Street (Music
students) or Registry Office, Milton Court (Production
Arts
& Drama students) to pick up your voucher for a free hot or
cold drink.
eGo changes
We have recently made some changes to eGo. Student feedback is always welcome, but please do
particularly get in touch if you notice any issues as a result of these changes by emailing Registry at
registry@gsmd.ac.uk and attaching a screenshot.
Please update your contact details
Please check your contact details in eGo are correct and up to date. Specifically, if you have an UK
mobile number but currently have your international mobile number on file, please can you update
your contact information to the UK mobile number.
Applications are now open for Student Funding England
Student Funding England recommend that applications for student funding are submitted before
the deadline of 24th June 2022 to ensure they are assessed in time for the start of September term. The
deadline may be earlier for other funding bodies so please check your online accounts.
If you need any assistance with your application please contact the Student Funding Officer at
studentfundingofficer@gsmd.ac.uk