The Shout Issue 37 - Summer 2019

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Cardiff Met Halls ranked 14th in the UK by Whatuni Student Choice Awards!

The Shout! Commercial Services.

Student Placements. Enriching the student experience with Real World placements. Commercial Services annually host Cardiff Met students in a range of work placements and projects each year.

In a second student placement project, we will be working alongside Computer Science students to help update and refresh the Online Induction that all Halls students are required to complete before we issue their room keys.

areas of good practice across the university, whilst acquiring auditing skills and experience. Rachel Roberts added: “I’m delighted again to offer Conference Services had their students the opportunity to annual student placement from attend training, learn valuable Events Management. Bethan transferrable skills, increase their confidence and gain work joined the team in the office and Rachel Roberts has once again assisted weekly with meeting taken a group of CSM Business In experience to complement their clients, marketing events and Action students under her wing to studies.” One of Rachel’s audit students promoting the services available work on a variety of projects. had this to say: via social media. More infor“Working alongside the univermation is on the back page sity has proven to me just how regarding her experiences. adaptive and willing to cooperAccommodation Services have ate with students, Cardiff this year worked with five stuMetropolitan are. Giving the dents from Graphic Design unstudents a voice allowed us to der the annual ‘Persuasion Profeel like we could really make a ject’. This year our theme was difference, with regular 1-1's to student drug awareness literamonitor our progress and ture. The students produced answer questions, we were able outstanding posters, information to get the most out of our booklets and a short film. All of research, enabling us to create which will be displayed in the the best solutions possinew arrivals flats for this ble. Rachel Roberts is a clear September 2019. Hopefully the Gary Samuel from the Business example of a leader doing her approach that the students have School had this to say: utmost to progress the Universitaken will resonate more with “The support Rachel Roberts pro- ty up the league tables.” our new intake than a corporate vides to Business and ManageCatering & Hospitality approach to drug misuse. ment students’ development and provide weekly placements for Wendy Keay-Bright who directs learning as part of the level 5 two international students the programme had this to say: Business in Action module is inamongst their Llandaff staff. In “Student feedback suggests that valuable. Students, with on-going addition they have acted as a input and support from Rachel, client to Nutrition and Dietetics the project helps them to recognise the responsibility that work on authentic, and important- students who assisted in ly live, business challenges and being a designer carries, they developing a new healthy and very much enjoy the experience are afforded a genuine opportuni- diverse menu. The new of collaborating with a client, ty to contribute to the generation products have gone on to be and the opportunity to apply of solutions to be implemented by successfully sold through Catertheir learning in real world Cardiff Metropolitan University.” ing outlets. contexts.” Rachel’s work also provided students with the opportunity to volunteer and train as environmental auditors in order to assist with Cardiff Met’s internal audits of the Environmental Management System. 16 CSHS students applied this year and training was facilitated by Penarth Management Ltd and overseen by Cardiff Met’s Commercial Services Department. The students worked alongside the Sustainability Engagement Manager, Rachel Roberts, providing recommendations and identifying

Newsletter Date: 10/06/19 Est: 2004 Issue #37 Inside this issue: Get fit for FREE!. Major sports announcement.

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Clean air and smoke free. Some important dates.

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Student Housing Fayre. Busiest year yet.

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Marathons and me. Not talking chocolates here!

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Coffee cup recycling. Thousands recycled already.

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Awards & Applications. Shortlisted for a CUBO!

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Conference Round Up. Past & Future Events.

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LGBT Rainbow Day. Wearing our colours.

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Comm Services do Lent! Annual 44 day challenge.

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Print Studio Open Day. 11 Universities joined us.

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Res Life Update. A year of events.

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Meet your Colleagues. Bethan from Conferences.

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FREE Gym passes for students. From September 2019 all 10,000+ Cardiff Met students will receive FREE sports membership across all campuses and all years of study. There is increasing evidence that a healthy body leads to an increase in academic achievements. Further to this its important to exercise for general well being and stress reduction. Cardiff Met has become one of the first UK universities to offer FREE sports membership and it might well encourage an increase in applications and help give us an edge regarding student retention.


Cycle to Work Window 2019 & NEXT Bikes. In December 2018 Cardiff Met won the prestigious Cardiff City Cycling Award for ‘The Most Cycle Friendly Business’. An outstanding achievement and a recognition for the great strides we have taken over the past 17 years to support both student and staff cyclists. On that note I am delighted to announce that the new Cycle To Work purchase window opened on 1st May 2019. The scheme basically allows staff to purchase a bicycle at around 30% of its initial cost and pay for it over 12 months. This year we had 29 applications from a range of staff requesting certificates for bicycles priced from £200 to £1000.

Cardiff Met make no money from the scheme at all, its just about offering a bit of help to staff to make their daily commute more sustainable. Our cycle stores are getting close to capacity on Llandaff Campus and a piece of work will be undertaken over the summer to identify where extra shelters could be located. Any suggestions please get in touch on extension 6712. The NEXT Bike initiative continues to go from strength to strength. To date 534 staff and students have signed up to the scheme. There will be another opportunity in September to join the scheme with 600 free passes up for grabs.

Follow the Cardiff Met link and you get 30 minutes free cycling every time you use a NEXT Bike. Its unlimited and you can use it as many times you want a day for a whole year. Here’s the link: www.nextbike.co.uk/en/cardiff You then click on ‘sign up’ and indicate that you are from Cardiff Met. You have to register a bank card and a payment of £1 which is refundable if you ever leave the scheme. NEXT Bike has exploded in popularity in Cardiff with the city now accounting for 15% of all UK NEXT Bike journeys. The good news is that a further 500 bikes and more stands are heading to Cardiff before September 2019!

Results of Student & Staff Travel survey. A huge response and some amazing stats! November saw the completion of the Biennial Student & Staff Travel Survey by a staggering 939 students and 793 staff. This number of respondents smashed all previous completion figures and provided a truly accurate picture of how students and staff arrive at our campuses. Some of the stand out statistics include:

* Since 2008 we have seen a 9% increase in students walking to campus and a 12% increase in staff walking to work! A total of 27% of students and 15% of staff now walk to campus each day. * Since 2009 the total figure for students cycling each week has increased to over 1,000 students!

* Over the past 7 years there has been a 14% reduction in students using cars to travel to campus. This equates to 1,575 cars removed from a daily commute or the equivalent of a reduction in 54.33 tons of CO2 being released daily. (It takes 240 trees to remove 10 tons of CO2, so we would have needed to plant 1,303 mature trees).

By 2021 Cardiff Councils’ key aim is for 50% of all journeys to be undertaken by sustainable transport. In the following five years to 2026 efforts will be focused on delivering further improvements to increase the proportion of all journeys in Cardiff by walking, cycling and public transport to 60% and achieve the aspirational target of a 60:40 modal split.

* Over a million journeys have been taken on the Met Rider since it was introduced (20 years ago).

Cardiff Met has already achieved the Citys 2021 and 2026 modal split with our students having a 76:24 car usage split.

* Staff mileage has reduced by nearly 115,000 miles in the past 5 years. The equivalent of driving from Cardiff to Australia 12 times!

A continuing effort is to be undertaken to further improve our staff modal figure of 46:54 car usage to align with the aspirations of the Council by 2021!

A bold step by Cardiff Met. We are going Clean Air and then Smoke Free! From September 2019 Cardiff Metropolitan University campuses will become 'Clean Air' Campuses. This means smoking and vaping will only be permitted in dedicated smoking shelters. Work is being undertaken at the moment to ascertain where the shelters are going to be located - more news to follow once it has been confirmed. This is a bold step by Cardiff Met and will see us become the first Welsh university to tackle the ‘smoking issue’ head on. We all need to play a part in this and direct students, staff or guests to the shelters to smoke. I imagine there will be a few Page 2

‘grumbles’ at first but pretty soon it will become the norm and accepted, This will be further supported by the removal of the option to purchase tobacco from the SU shop on both campuses. An even greater step is then scheduled for September 2020 when Cardiff Met campuses will all become 'Smoke Free' and no smoking or vaping will be permitted on any of the campuses including the Halls of Residence.


Student Housing Fayre. Contributed by Harpal McCarthy, Accommodation Officer. At this years student Housing Fayre, we had a really busy day, the turnout was enormous! We became extra busy during the core hours 12 – 2pm. Although it is very difficult for us to keep a note on the number of students attending, we can estimate it by the number of housing lists and information handed out. At the Housing Fayre – we handed out 161 copies. Bearing in mind the students often only took one copy to share amongst their group of four or five friends. A good number of groups of Cyncoed students made the effort to come to Llandaff Campus for the information and pick up the list from the fayre, we noted them attending more during the afternoon. A further 17 copies were handed out from Cyncoed Reception to students who couldn’t make it to the Fayre. Speaking to our stall holders near the end of the day (after Nick and I were close to losing our voices having spoken to so many students !) – some positive feedback included:

“This event is the most we have engaged with students, more than any other event that we normally attend throughout the year - in house or outside organisations.” Students Services – Finance & Budgeting information for students.

“This is always a really good event as we get our important information and messages across to students, here we get a really good engagement with students attending.” South Wales Police – Community relations. Some parents also attended, which we welcome, as they equally need guidance when students inevitably ask them to be their guarantors for a shared student house. I normally start our campaign / advertising with the help of Nick and Tom, from October onwards, as soon as the students have settled into halls. Each year our Housing Information Fayre has progressed and has become one of the big events within the Accommodation Services Calendar. A little different from several years ago, where we could be seen handing out our “We had a lot of student engagement, and housing lists from a cold reception area! explicitly noted 85 students engaging Since the Atrium has become available, we specifically with our stall.” have been able to get more stalls and Rent Smart Wales/ Deposit Protection guests involved and capture many more Scheme. students than before.

The main aim is always to help ‘arm’ our students (and their parents / guarantors) with the right information, before they sign a legally binding contract, when they are often naïve and have never rented a privately shared student house before. Our information, and engagement with students on the day is simple for students to understand, yet detailed as per Housing Law, one example being – for students to understand the law in relation to the Deposit Scheme. Also what they as tenants should be looking out for, i.e. their rights to ask questions to landlords, etc. The ultimate aim of this work is to ensure that students can live comfortably and securely within a student house after they have been in halls for their first year. We try our best to help students avoid unnecessary housing worries, unforeseen pitfalls and issues when renting privately, which can affect their studies and overall experience as a student at Cardiff Met. Thank you to Nick for all your help on the day, and listing the landlord data ahead of the event whilst we were short staffed this year, and Dave (Res Life) for taking some snaps on the day and joining in on the day.

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The London Marathon and Me. Contributed by Sally Groves, Conference Co-ordinator. I absolutely love my running and the life I now have because of it. I love to run for pleasure as it keeps my mind and body healthy and I like to do the odd race or ten!! Marathons are definitely not my favourite distance and I much prefer supporting and cheering so to run one is quite stressful. When I got a place in the London Marathon through the ballot entry I knew I just had to do it. Why would I go in for the ballot when I don’t like the distance you may ask? Well any runner will tell you that London is THE race to do, if only once! It’s not just about race day but the months leading up to it with all the training that’s involved. For me training over the winter is hard as I seem to be plagued with cold after cold and running long distances every week is very time consuming. Saying all that I was so excited to get my place and was determined to give it my best shot. As I had a ballot place I didn’t have to raise any money but I was not going to pass up the opportunity of raising money for my chosen charity. I always said if I got a place then I would run for Alzheimer’s and 2019 was the year for the Dementia Revolution so there was really no question about it. I had a picture of my dad on my back and patted him often along the way and cried a lot especially at the end. He knew I was running for him and I was so excited about telling him all about it and showing him my medal but alas he just didn’t make it but I know he was with me. I was really looking forward to my weekend and going to the expo more than the race itself as I was very, very nervous. When you are not a fast runner you end up starting quite near the back and I was allocated a starting pen right at the back! I crossed the start line at 11am, about an hour after Sir Mo had crossed the start line so there was no way I was going to catch him and be able to run alongside! The atmosphere was amazing and the crowds were fantastic. The Dementia supporters were at every other mile which was amazing and a real boost. I chatted to other Dementia runners along the way and even bumped into friends from other running clubs in Cardiff. I absolutely loved it and chatted and high fived everyone (well not quite everyone!) The last 3 miles were the hardest as my watch was telling me I had run further than I thought but I met up with other Dementia runners and we collected people along the way so we could have a sea of team shirts crossing the finish line together. It was fantastic! I had done it and I had that medal I so needed for me and for dad. In the process I raised nearly £1000 and feel lucky that I have been supported by so many kind and caring people. Will I ever run another marathon? No, no, no, oh go on then, maybe one day!!! But not yet.

Lifes’ a Beach! Well a clean beach after Res Life has hit it! In early March, a joint Res Life and Students Union venture saw 12 students head to Black Pill beach in Swansea. We met up with a chap from Keep Wales Tidy who was delighted that we were going to be helping him for the morning. This beach is litter picked regularly but following Storm Freya was awash with plastic of all kinds of descriptions. Its worrying to think how much must be in our oceans if we can amass 20 full bags worth in two hours! We were particularly shocked by the amount of little blue straws which turned out to be ear bud stems - they were everywhere! Wet wipes were a common feature and often congealed together to form a solid mass. Another peculiar find was the amount of shotgun shells. These are apparently fired off cruise ships from clay shooting and spend around 50 years floating where ever the tides take them. A successful event and one we will be looking to repeat a little closer to home in the near future. Page 4


Single-use coffee cup collection. Rachel Roberts, Sustainability Engagement Manager. Single-use Coffee cup collection pilot Llandaff Campus

Have you got a re-usable cup that you like? (very important that you like it)

At the time of writing we have finished week 9 of the single-use coffee cup collection pilot on Llandaff Campus. Catering Met Catering, Sustainability and the Students’ Union in partnership with Keep Wales Tidy, PCRRG, Simply Cups and Refill.

Use your re-usable cup whilst in the office so it becomes the norm and then remember to take it when you make a purchase. The Chilly’s, Costa and Cardiff Met re-usable cups are available at all Cardiff Met food outlets.

We have a long way to go to change behaviour and this is where you as staff, can all make a difference. Questions to consider Are you a regular hot drink purchaser on Campus ?

Did you know that when you present your re-usable cup you can have a 10% discount for your hot drink? Forgot your re-usable cup? Remember the strapline of the pilot - Keys, Wallet, Phone, Cup and deposit your used cup in one of the four bins on Llandaff Campus,

So here is the guilt bit, in the last 9 weeks a staggering 40,020 hot drinks have been sold at Llandaff Campus alone, with 13% of these (5147) being in re-usable cups, with only 10% (3427) single-use cups managing to get to the correct bin. That means that incorrectly 31,446 single-use cups are going into the general waste bins or being taken off Campus. Look out for the bins shown below to recycle your cups and lids. Here is where we can all make a difference by always using a re-usable cup and having a little chat with colleagues when we see them using a single-use cup. Don’t be afraid to discuss the issue with people, the more who become aware the better.

Go Green Week and Smalls For All. Its not just about green underwear! Go Green Week 2019 Go Green Week in February, took place in the CSM Atrium on Llandaff Campus between 10am – 3pm.

Roy Emmott fr om Campus Ser vices won the top prize of absolutely nothing for looking Gorgeous in Green with his tank top. He was delighted with his giant balloon, that he now takes everywhere with him!

The week was well attended with a great turn-around of books, with donating and swapping and recycling of unwanted files and folders. There is a permanent book swap area in M Block copier room.

Smalls For All – Is our well established recycling initiative of bras and new pants. Staff and students donated 5 large cardboard boxes of unwanted bra’s and new pants during the week.

Free Plants - Gavin Jones Ltd (our Grounds Maintenance Contractor) kindly donated some spring bulbs and plants. Yu Hsuan Price from Catering was delighted with her plant.

It was quite amusing to see some of our male members of staff embarrassingly dropping off parcels of their wives bras! Its only a bra, nothing to feel awkward about!

Gorgeous in Green – staff and students attending the yoga session wore Green t-shirts on the Wednesday. Some trialled the yoga class for the first time and have continued to attend since.

These were sent to the ‘Smalls for All’ charity which provides much needed underwear for women in Africa. We will still take as many pieces of underwear that you have in all sizes, just forward them to Rachel Roberts. Used bras are fine, but only new pants please. Page 5


Awards and Applications. They are like buses! Nothing for years and then . . . I am proud to announce that our Res Life programme has been recently shortlisted for the highly coveted CUBO Awards 2019 - Best Residence Life Initiative.

FREE haircut.

as a trusted confidant, almost a front-line

It is widely acknowledged that male

service for mental health provision.

students are less likely than their female

Might sound a bizarre venture but it affords staff the opportunity to speak directly to largely male students regarding any concerns they may have. To date we have helped students at this event apply for the hardship fund, complete job applications and to contact student services.

counterparts to seek help from a healthAfter only having RES Life running for three years, this a huge feather in the cap and fingers crossed we will be collecting the award at the CUBO Annual Conference & Gala Dinner at Swansea Bay Campus in July 2019.

care professional for mental health issues.

Our entry focused on a regular campaign we have been running where we offer students the opportunity to visit an on campus barbers at Plas Gwyn for a

dertaken in 2015 indicated that nearly 40%

There are a number of reasons for this including personal privacy, being considered ‘manly’, as well as a perceived stigma around mental health issues. Research unof men visiting a hairstylist were not ‘just there for the hair’. Barbers are ‘perceived’

From September 2019 we will be adding a twice monthly facial and nail service to encourage our female students to also come and chat to us. Obviously the boys can also take advantage of this service should they want a facial or manicure.

No smoking Day at Plas Gwyn Campus. Contributed by Lisa Ah Mun, Plas Gwyn Halls Manager. Smoking was banned on Plas Gwyn Campus on the 13th March in support of No Smoking Week. Students were ’encouraged’ to not smoke on the campus and if they did would face the wrath of Ms Ah-Mun! Most students adhered and came in to Reception to swap a fag for a lucky dip consisting of Sweets, Chocolates, TicTacs, Kiss A Non Smoker Lipsalve and Chewing Gums. The two students pictured were caught smoking on campus and were politely asked to donate their remaining cigarettes to the bin and wear no smoking clothing for the day. It was all a bit of fun and as you can see they happily obliged, much to the bemusement of their friends. The day was a huge success with some students abstaining completely for the day and others actually walking off site to smoke. This is an annual event at Plas Gwyn and one that hopefully in a years time will be run for the last time as we see smoking banned across all Cardiff Met campuses.

Meeting a ‘Dirty Vegan’. Commercial Services hosted Pritchard from Dirty Sanchez! Cardiff Met alumni, Matt Pritchard attended Cardiff Met for a question, answer and book signing session on 23rd May 2019.

Following the 40 minute interview This was the first of the ‘Commercial Services there was an opportunity for questions Presents’ Q&A sessions - more news to follow and answers from the audience with a soon on the next exciting guest we have lined up. book signing session.

The event arranged by Rachel Roberts saw Matt exploring his rise from skateboarder to Vegan Chef! We managed to surprise Matt with a guest appearance of our own in the form of Mr Reeves who used to teach Matt at the former CIHE when he was just 18. To say he was shocked is an understatement! Neil Woollacott was the compere for the evening, ably assisted by Rachel and Andrew Phelps.

Matt gave Cardiff Met several exclusives during the interview including that the second TV series of Dirty Vegan has been commissioned to be shown on BBC1 in January 2020. Plus his publicist has confirmed two more cook books are to be written. Catering & Hospitality produced an outstanding spread of vegan food all authentically recreated from Matt’s book.


Cardiff Met Conferences - Keeping you in the Know. Contributed by Eva Huw, Conference Co-ordinator. Summary of Past Events.

“We have used Cardiff Met's Training This winter has been another busy period and Conference facilities for many years - we keep coming back because the for Conference Services with over 200 rooms are so bright and airy, nothing is bookings. Here’s an overview of what too much trouble and the pricing is very they were up to; competitive.” * A large number of additional bookings Cardiff Council Training Centre from Cardiff and Vale Social Care in the Conference Rooms at Cyncoed campus. * Hosting monthly OET exams for Celtic “Thank you so much for all the help and support you and your colleagues English Academy, with a 100% have given me over the last week. satisfaction rate. Everyone has been so friendly and * An Early Years Nutrition Seminar for helpful making the 'job' that much Public Health Network Cymru. easier and enjoyable to do.” * Breakfast meeting for Meet the Export Open University with delegates from a range of renowned food and drink companies such as Rachel’s Dairy, The Abergavenny Fine Food company and The Village Bakery. “We were very pleased with the event and will consider yourselves for future * Another very successful UCAS event events.” with over 4,000 school visitors on the day! A big thank you to everyone for Public Health Network Cymru helping on the day and making this an event run smoothly. “Our event went well thank you – the venue was perfect for this. Many thanks Hospitality Suite Refurb. for all your help.” This summer Commercial Services are Food and Drink Exportese giving the Hospitality Suite a complete make-over! The refurb will give the Hos“Clare and the Conference Team are a pitality Suite new furniture suitable for pleasure to work with given their friendconferences, hospitality events and ly and professional support. They go the student teaching, as well as a new look lounge area with fit for purpose hospital- ‘extra mile’ by anticipating your needs ity service area. The lounge area will and making helpful suggestions. Thank also have a light wood floor and new you!” stylish lighting throughout. External Celtic English Academy (pictured with businesses and visitors regularly use the Clare below). Hospitality Suite so the upgrade will ensure that our stakeholders maintain a high impression of Cardiff Met. The upgrade will also assist in additional event revenue generation via Conference Services.

Summary of Forthcoming Events – to name just a few! Medtrend – Diabetes Study Day (May) FAW Trust - First Aid Awards (May) Young Minds – Trauma Training (May) WJEC Art and Design Moderation Conference – (May) Open University - Exams (June) Teach First – Group Accommodation (June) Institute of Medical Ethics – Residential Conference (June) Mediconf – GP and Healthcare Conference (June & September) L’Astrolabio - Residential Language School (July) British Psychology Society – QMiP Residential Conference (July) Enterprise Troopers National Final - Welsh Primary Schools Competition (July) FAW Trust - Referees Conference (July) Exeter City FC – Group Accommodation (July) Welsh Stroke Conference (July) Communicate-Ed – Access Arrangements Update (September) Northumbria University – UK Society for Co-operative Studies Annual Residential Conference (September) Beach Volley Ball - Competition Accommodation (July & August) Canterbury Rugby Club – Group Accommodation (August)

Watch this space for the exciting news about the new AV upgrade in Conference Rooms at Cyncoed! I can’t tell you too much yet, but you will be genuinely amazed when you see and use it!

Instagram Conference Services have recently set up an Instagram account @cardiffmetconf and would be very grateful if you could give them a follow!

Have you got a meeting or event coming up that we could assist you with? Call us on 029 2041 6181/2 to arrange a show round of our facilities or to receive a competitive quotation for your next event.


News in Brief. Stories from around the campuses. Cardiff Met Garden Party.

All change in Ellis!

To celebrate the dedication and hard work of all staff across the University over the past year, Cardiff Met have again organised a Staff Summer Garden Party, which will take place on Friday July 5th from 14:0018:00. The event will take place in the marquee area behind Cardiff School of Management on the Llandaff Campus. The party is intended to provide an opportunity for us all to get together and celebrate the many successes achieved across the University during yet another challenging year. There will be live music, entertainment, and a range of food and drink. A free shuttle bus will be provided to transport staff between Cyncoed and Llandaff campuses.

June will see the start of Phase 2 of the Ellis Halls refurbishment programme on the Cyncoed Campus. The last 59 of the Ellis bedrooms will be refurbished and converted into en-suite bedrooms. There will be an additional social area and the

extended kitchen remodelled where the communal showers and toilets used to be located. The work undertaken last year made such an important difference to the student experience at Cardiff Met. This is highlighted by the new rating of 14th for Cardiff Met Accommodation at the recent Whatuni Student Choice Awards 2019. The Whatuni Student Choice Awards are the only university experience awards ceremony based on student reviews from over 41,000 student reviews from 160 institutions. Now in their sixth year, the WUSCAs offer prospective students an unbiased, student-led alternative to traditional university ranking systems. To be 14th in the UK for Accommodation is something to be proud of and an outstanding achievement by all concerned.

New courses from Organisational Development. Contributed by Vanessa White, Head of Organisational Development. The Internal Mentoring Network for all staff is up and running. This mentoring network is for you if you need some support on a specific topic area or if you enjoy sharing your knowledge and experience for the benefit of colleagues across the university. The mentoring network can be accessed directly from Learning Pool. The network has its own dedicated website and you will find all the information you need on this site to either become a mentor, find a mentor, or do both! Up and coming short courses include:

Conflict Resolution for Managers Dates: 19th June or 2nd July. This Conflict Resolution Skills course offers a practical grounding in the skills required to address and resolve arguments and disagreements Handling Difficult Conversations Dates: ½ day only 27th June 2019. This half day programme is suitable for anyone who would like to feel better equipped to handle difficult conversations at work. These conversations could be with colleagues, managers or external parties.

LGBT Rainbow Day. Cyncoed Halls staff at their brightest! The Cyncoed Halls Domestic Team supported the recent LGBT Rainbow Day by wearing all the colours of the rainbow. The team looked great and the students soon picked up on what was going on, with some of them joining in and wearing bright colours for the day. This event will be in our diary again for next year and it would be great to see the rest of the University follow our colourful lead. The following day was St Davids Day so red clothing was the theme for both Halls and Catering staff . The students were treated to a daffodil displays and a constant supply of Welsh cakes available for the students to devour on the Halls Reception desks.

Introduction to Coaching and Mentoring Dates: 25 Sept /23 Oct The focus is on developing an effective attitude and skills base, underpinned with the opportunity for real practice in a safe environment. If you manage others this course increases the tools and approaches you have available to you for effective leadership. Introduction to Leadership & Management. Dates: 19th Sept / 17th Oct Suitable for line managers across the University and includes: role of the manager, key leadership theories, handling difficult conversations, delegation and motivation.


Commercial Services, Finance & Friends do Lent. 44 days was a challenge! For the third year running we have once again run a Lent Promotion amongst Commercial Services, Finance and Friends. I am delighted to announce that 25 of us took part in what was a challenging 44 days of abstention. I hasten to add this promotion is not about religion but more about doing something to make yourself feel happier, even if there was some short term pain! This year apart from some of the more traditional Lenten there were a few more ’Societal’ and ‘Well Being’ challenges that staff could opt into if they wished. This included: The 44 Unloved Items - Put one item you don’t want in a bag each day and at the end donate the lot to charity. Declutter your life and help a charity. The Six Book Challenge - read a book a week, which encourages the time and space to relax. Nothing New Here - no new purchases for 44 days. This obviously excludes necessities like food and permitted the participants to but second hand items. Make Yourself Richer. Get a jar and put £1 in on the first day, £2 on the second day etc until the seventh day and then start again at £1. At the end of the six weeks you have £170 to spend as you wish! Techno Free Nights involved leaving your phone and i-pad out of the living room or bedroom so you could enjoy a social media free evening. Plastic Packaging - ask Leigh about unwrapping her fruit and veg at the checkout!

Name Neil

Giving Up Alcohol!, Bread, Chocolate, .

Sarah Spencer Harpal McCarthy

Jeremy Price Sarah Davis

Bread, Chocolate, No Coffee Swearing, Plastic Packaging, Fast food / take away Chocolate, Caffeine, Plastic Packaging Swearing, Potatoes, Social Media after 6pm, Chocolate, Bread, Fizzy Drinks Chocolate, Crisps Bread, Salt, Crisps & Nuts Chocolate, Potatoes, Chocolate, Alcohol, Plastic Packaging Chocolate, Crisps, Fast Food /take away Swearing, Crisps, Chocolate Chocolate, Potatoes, Bread

Natalie Buckland Sally Groves

Chocolate Swearing, Fizzy Drinks

Tom Learoyd Eva Huw David Owen

Alcohol, Bread, Fizzy Drinks Plastic Packaging Swearing, No salt/sugar, Fast Food /take away Chocolate, Fast Food/Take Away, Biscuits, Burgers , French Fries Swearing, Caffeine, Chocolate, Sugary Drinks, Sprinkled salt & sugar, Bread (except breadcrumb, flatbread & wrap). Fizzy Drinks Fizzy Drinks Alcohol, chocolate, plastic pack- The 44 Unloved, Vegetarian aging week Chocolate, Sweets, Cake Potatoes, Bread, Make Yourself Richer

Leigh Robinson Andrea Stokes Ellie Jones Julie Halse Lisa Ah Mun Diane Bryant Helen Crotty Rachel Roberts

Paul Cheverton Mark Barry

Karen Moore Keturah Ames Emma Walters Emma Cook Karen Thorne

Hilary’s latest brood! Quackers about ducks at Cyncoed. For the fifth year in succession, our resident mallard, ‘Hilary’ returned to the Cyncoed Campus. Once again this year she laid a batch of eggs resulting in a healthy brood of ten chicks hatching in early May. She was pictured on a Sunday morning guiding the gang on the perilous journey from Cyncoed Campus to Roath Park Lake! Somehow she manages to do it every year, avoiding cars and even the hungry eyes of Catering who would quickly have her in a pot! The students have really taken to Hilary and her fellas every year and thankfully leave her alone to get on with nest building and raising her gang. We just need to speak kindly to Estates about having a duck pond for her on campus!

Challenge Nothing new here, Stop the Cards, Techno free nights

The 44 Unloved items Six book challenge Six book challenge The 44 Unloved items The 44 Unloved items The 44 Unloved items. Pescatarian challenge The 44 Unloved items Six book challenge & Make Yourself Richer The 44 Unloved items, Six Book Challenge, The 44 Unloved items Don’ be a cling on! Technology free nights & Make Yourself Richer


Print Studio ACPME Open Day. Contributed by Caitlin Gwynn, Print service Administrator. Print Studio held an Open Day during April for members of the ACPME (the Association of Creative and Print Managers in Education). The day was popular with over twenty attendees from 11 Universities, some coming from as far as Scotland. We’ve made a lot of changes within the Print Studio over the last year, including replacing over 100 shared printers across the University, going cashless and opening a new online store. The open day gave attending universities the chance to see how we’d achieved all of this and ask questions. Among the success stories are the environmental savings delivered by our new fleet, with substantial savings in paper, energy and consumables. We already seen a massive saving of over 370,000 sheets this year so far (compared against the previous year) with far greater use of double-sided print and scanning. The way we’ve developed our new online store was also a popular topic on the day. We launched the store earlier this year, it’s available to staff, students, and external customers and can be found at www.printstudiocardiff.co.uk We received excellent feedback from those that attended, with ACPME members saying the day had been incredibly helpful and informative. These are a few of the comments that we’ve received: “A very big thank you from Loughborough University. We travelled back with lots of new ideas and are very grateful for yourself and your team for hosting an excellent event.” “Thank you for opening your doors to us. A very informative day and wish I had bought more of my team as they all would have got something out of it. These days are so good - reminding us what we do well as well as pushing us to keep the energy going and making those necessary changes.” – University of Bristol “A huge thank you from Exeter for a most informative day yesterday, alongside your excellent hospitality! We were also amazed at both the calibre and diversity of equipment you had within the Print Studio, as well as the, products/services your unit offered.” This event followed on from another Open Day held for staff the week before, which had positive feedback from everyone that was able to attend. We’re intending on holding more of these in the future, so look out for future announcements. Following our double-winning success last year, Print Studio have also entered four categories in the annual University print awards so wish us luck!

More News in Brief. Stories from around the campuses. Warwick House lending library. Fancy something to read or watch for free? If you do then pop along to Warwick House photocopy room on Cyncoed Campus where there is a considerable selection of books, DVD’s and console games for you to have for free. Take whatever you want and if you can next time you visit leave something behind. Its already proving pretty popular, with the library regularly being restocked. After two months stock is donated to charity and it starts again. The same lending library is also operating in M Block at Llandaff in the photocopy room. Always reuse before recycling! Page 10

Staff Benefits Market. We would like to invite you to an ‘All Staff Work is scheduled to start on 1st July to Benefits Market’. The purpose of this is to more widely communicate all the benefits, resurface the entrance to Cyncoed Campus from the Cyncoed Road activities and initiatives that are available to entrance. Please note this area will still staff, or are useful for staff to be aware of, permit pedestrians and cyclists but in our University. will be closed to all vehicles including So far there will be representatives from the buses and deliveries. Unions, RIS, QED, L&IS, International, HR, Student Services, Met Sport, Welsh The 52 bus service will decant on Unit and Market Garden, and this list is Cyncoed Road and all other vehicles building all the time. will need to use the NIAC entrance. Date: 27th June Timings: 11 until 1pm. The work is scheduled for a period of Venue: Cyncoed Conference rooms 2 &3 four weeks and when finished will Refreshments provided. compliment the recently planted It would be good to see you. boulevard of trees that flank the drive Professor Leigh Robinson PVC Cyncoed all the way up to Reception. Cyncoed entrance resurfacing.


Res Life Update. All events are FREE and all alcohol FREE for Halls students! Its been a busy year of Res Life events with lots of new initiatives introduced this term. Some of the highlights have including: * The very popular weekly Yoga classes for students at Plas Gwyn Halls. * The Cook Off! Cooking lessons which culminated in a campus wide cooking competition with two winners from Plas Gwyn and Cyncoed Halls. * Chinese New Year event held at Liberty Fields with free food, music, traditional games and good luck message painting. * The Res Life V Staff monthly football match. The students won the last match 4-2 although we did have a slightly biased referee in the form of Lisa Ah Mun, Plas Gwyn Halls Manager! * Book Club which only has six members, but those six are very keen, meeting weekly to discuss the book they are reading. So far they have got through ten books and are now reading Catch 22 which is to be followed by George Orwell’s 1984. * The ever popular FIFA Xbox tournaments and vintage gaming nights with Mario Cart and Goldeneye on the classic N64 and PS1. * A trip for 40 Halls students to Bath Christmas market and we even managed to bring everyone home! * The Great Pancake toss! Each flat were given pancake mix and lemons for the entire flat. That is enough to make 965 pancakes! * Termly trips to the Trampoline Park (last one had 28 participants) which has seen first years bouncing all over the place and thankfully no injuries. * End of Year Res Life Barbecue at both Plas Gwyn and Cyncoed where all students are fed for free and get the opportunity to say farewell to each other. * Saturday board game club! Where a group of students have been playing the fantasy game War Hammer for the past 12 weeks! No idea when it will end. * Free Pizza Nights where we have 40 Large Dominoes pizzas to give away ‘first come, first served’ style every month. * Beach Clean and Community Litter pick events that attracted a cross section of students and was held in conjunction with a local school. * Cinema trips to the world premiere nights of Avengers - End Game, Captain Marvel, Han Solo and Halloween! We made 100 tickets available for each film and is arguably one of the students favourite Friday night events. The Res Life program is making a real difference to our Halls students lives as it provides them with a free social calendar and the opportunity to meet other students from a diverse background. Importantly all our events are alcohol free which is proving to be a big attraction with our first year students.

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Dates For Your Diary: 10th June - The Volvo Open Race Festival - first time ever on Welsh shores. 15th June - Elton John’s last ever tour at the Cardiff City Stadium. 27th June - All Staff Benefits Market at Cyncoed Campus 11am -1pm. 5th July - Cardiff Met Garden Party - Llandaff Campus. Editor: Neil Woollacott Deputy Accommodation Services Manager & Travel Plan Manager. Cardiff Metropolitan University, Cyncoed Campus, Cyncoed Road, Cardiff CF23 6XD Tel: 02920 41 6712 nwoollacott@cardiffmet.ac.uk Facebook: Cardiff Met Halls & Housing

6th July - Cardiff Food & Drink Festival - Cardiff Bay. 17th August - Cardiff Anime & Gaming Con - Mercure Holland Hotel. 24th August - Pride Cymru which attracts over 50,000 people to Cardiff. 13th September - Students start arriving in Halls.

Farewell and Good Luck: Jamie Hancock who has left Cardiff Met for a position at the Welsh Assembly. Jeremy Price from Estates who has recently left Cardiff Met.

Go Green: If you would like your copy of The Shout! delivered to you electronically in future rather than a hard copy, get in touch at: nwoollacott@cardiffmet.ac.uk

Meet your Colleagues Introducing Conference Services work experience student Bethan. the corporate sector of events once I graduate. The fact that the placement’s main focus is on marketing is a large positive for me because I really enjoy marketing, especially through social media. I wanted to ensure that I developed my understanding of marketing corporate events within the work place.

How will this work placement help you on your course and for your future employment? • It will help me greatly, as I now have practical experience of being involved within a corporate role. On the events course, we have to give industry examples and now that I have helped out within the industry, I will be able to provide more examples that will make Is it what you expected, has anything been a surprise? • It is mostly what I have more sense to me. Future employment expected, other than the fact that it is quite opportunities may arise, as employers like people to have as much relevant industry hard to come up with ideas for marketing experience as possible. materials. I always thought this would be For the 2nd year running we are very easy, but in reality it takes a lot longer than Has the role given you any ideas about happy to have a Cardiff Met student people realise as you have to get it just what kind of business areas you’d like to with us on work placement. Bethan, a right. However, that is not a bad thing, as work in? • 100%. It has reinforced that I second year Event Management student, I definitely am a perfectionist so it suits do want to work within the marketing joined the team to gain first-hand expe- me well! department for corporate events. rience in a real working environment. What has been the most interesting task The Shout! is your newsletter and reflects your activiAs part of her role, Bethan assists us ties and achievements. It has been initiated to keep us you’ve been given and how did you in social media activities, digital all aware of what is going on in each others sections. If there is no article about your area, it is because no campaigns and marketing projects. We approach it? • I have been given many one has spoken to me, please contact me yourself. asked Bethan a few questions about her interesting tasks, but probably the most Anyone who wishes to contribute articles, will be interesting was being given the opportunity time here and this is what she had to greeted with a smiling face and open arms. to set up the Instagram page. I felt as say; A copy of the Shout! is also available in Welsh if though the team put a lot of trust in me to Why did you choose Cardiff Met required. Any staff who are leaving Cardiff Met for do this effectively. I set it up and then we pastures new, let me have a forwarding address and I Conferences and what did you hope looked into possible posts and got the page to achieve during your work experi- up and running, following local businesses will send you a copy. The Shout! next issue will be circulated from ence? • I chose Cardiff Met Conferand other companies. November 2019 ences, as I know that I want to go into


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