QMSU Newsletter - November 2011

QMSU Newsletter

Volume: 1 November 2011

Find out what we’re doing for you

Welcome

Step into the Spotlight!

Hi all, Welcome to the first QMSU newsletter! We will be publishing this once a month, every month to keep you up to date on a variety of different things that the Union is doing and working on to improve your lives as students. It’s been a busy few weeks for us and this is a great way to remind you about what’s going on but also to give you an insight into what we’ve been working on behind the scenes too. So I hope you enjoy this month’s newsletter and if you have any feedback or comments then do get in touch.

Sophie @PresidentQMSU

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This year, QM and BL Societies and Students Groups will be invited to be ‘in the spotlight’. This is a new initiative to give societies and student groups a platform upon which to promote their events and campaigns. This is also an excellent opportunity for Societies and Student Groups to raise awareness about their overall aims and objectives, heighten their profile and attract new members and sponsors.

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f you are the President of one of our hundreds of societies or student groups, you will be invited to apply for this exclusive promotional opportunity.

Application forms will be e-mailed to all Presidents and will be downloadable from the website.

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he benefits of being in the spotlight include:

• A page on the QMSU website Spotlight page. This will allow you to insert stories, press releases, add photos or videos.

• A mention on the QMSU homepage as the selected ‘Society / Student Group in the Spotlight.’

• The chance to write a press release which will be printed in QMessenger.

• The chance to have your event advertised in Qmessenger.

• A short article in the Student Bulletin.

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he Spotlight initiative will be launched at the end of this month.

If you are interested in finding out more information, please contact Claire Britton on (Claire.britton@qmsu.org)

Volunteering So, the Provide Volunteering service (www.providevolunteering.org), which the Students’ Union organises, has expanded this year and Jay Downs (jay.downs@qmsu.org) is the new Volunteer Co-ordinator. If you need any Volunteering related help, send Jay an email.

We also welcome Darcie as this years’ Volunteering Officer, the student Volunteering rep who sits on student council, runs TEAM Provide, and leads the direction of all Volunteering.

So far this year we have run several Community Action Days

(CADs) and placed a number of • Make a real difference in students on placements across the community London. We’ve helped on So get involved, meet some clean-ups to prepare walkways great people, and sign up: for the 2012 Olympics. We’ve www.providevolunteering.org helped cheer and hand out water on the London Parks Half Marathon, and we’ve helped at the Alternative Hair show in the Royal Albert Hall.

Volunteering is great for • Developing your skills or learning new ones • Enjoying new experiences • Improving your employability For more information and contact details visit: www.qmsu.org

Course Reps

Every year of each course needs a Course Rep, so we have been working hard since the start of term to try and ensure your course has representation. This year we have put more emphasis on the promotion of the positions and the election to try and maximise the level of involvement from students, and it has been a massive success. The number of students nominating themselves to be a Course Rep rose by almost 300 to over a staggering 830 students. It is great to see so many students wanting to make a contribution in the development of their course.

It is important to QMSU that students are also elected, so that you really do choose who you want as your representative. The elections took place over the week of the 10th October and we saw a 67% increase in the number of students voting on the last academic year. We would

QMSU

Course Rep Award Ceremony 2011

Every year of each course needs a Course Rep! like to thank everyone who took the time to vote. To see the results go to www.qmsu.org/elections.

Unfortunately some positions are still vacant so we will run a By-election to try and fill these remaining positions, so if you currently don’t have a Course Rep and are interested please keep an eye out for further publicity.

If you are wondering what you

should be using your Course Rep Rep please visit www.qmsu.org/coursereps. for, they are an academic representative who will be attending meetings with your department, the College and the Students’ You Said : You don Union to ensure your academic ’t know wh o your co u rse rep is experience is improved. Make We Did: W . e are wor k e ing to the most of your Course Rep by nsure this informatio n is not o letting them know how you feel on the Q nly MSU web s it e , b about with things on your course ut also on your d epartmen t site. so they can raise these points on your behalf. For more information about the role of a Course

You!

What happened at this semester’s General Meeting:

Officers – the elected students that manage the Union in the way you want it to be run and A massive 353 students across make sure your views and opinQueen Mary and Barts and The ions are heard when decisions London attended the year’s first are made that affect you.

General Meeting.

The plans focus all Full-time OfStudents showed their support ficers on representing student for plans to change the Union’s issues and will create a new Vice-President Education and Vice-President Welfare. Meanou don’t Y : id a S u Yo while Student Activities and clected offi e r u o y o Student Media responsibiliknow wh o. hat they d w r o e r a ers ties are transferred to sture in esting mo v in e r a e Ques- dent volunteers.

We Did: W s, running

r the Office videos on marketing g in d lu Changes to Part-time Ofc s and in l a ic t a tion Time bb ficers were supported too e of all Sa the websit and will move Student Council Officers.

Students also endorsed new governing documents called the Articles of Association that will allow the Union to register as an incorporated charity and new rules for the way student media is managed.

Everything discussed at the General Meeting will now be referred to Student Council and ultimately the Union’s Board of Trustees for approval.

For more on what happened in the meeting and the exact changes students present go to qmsu.org/generalmeetings.

closer to being representative.

For more information and contact details visit: www.qmsu.org

Student Council exists to change things for you. To find out more and get your issues discussed go to:

qmsu.org/studentcouncil

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his year QMSU has launched a brand new and exciting recreational sports programme GET ACTIVE. The programme is part of a new drive to get students and staff interested in sport who wouldn’t previously have engaged. This is part of a national initiative instigated by Sport England, who have provided significant funding for Get Active. Over 40 universities nationwide have been awarded funding for the new Active Universities initiative but QMSU was the only Students Union to receive this. ver 40 sessions are taking place every week in a variety of 10 different sports: Athletics, Badminton, Basketball, Climbing, Cricket, Football, Judo, Netball, Table Tennis and Tennis.

Students are able to ‘turn up and play’ and also take part in organised leagues and tournaments.

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The start of the academic year saw a new start for the sports clubs of QMSU. A new name Club Sport; a new home, - Qmotion; a new staff member with responsibility - James Mountain (more later) and a new focus – Club Development.

James Mountain was appointed as Sports Club Coordinator,

Most activities cost as little as 1.50 and some are even free!

All Get Active sessions all take place on or near campus and are led by qualified coaches and Student activators. et Active kicked off with a bang at its Launch Event on September 24th in and around Qmotion. All 10 sports were represented at the Launch Event by a series of taster sessions, competitions and demonstrations. The most popular of these proved to be the 10m Mobile climbing wall that was set up in Drapers Square where participants tried their hand at rock climbing. Queen Mary PhD Student Hassan Ali walked away with a 19” Toshiba LCD HD Television as the lucky winner of the Get Active Prize Draw. he programme has seen a large increase in par-

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with a background in football coaching and club development. As well as being the first point of contact for club members, committees and members of the general public and organising BUCS fixtures.

We have made some changes to better support clubs including:

Get Active Launch Event September 24

ticipation with well over 400 students and staff currently taking part in Get Active activities every week. Tickets for Get Active session are available

both online and at Qmotion.

For more information on this exciting new programme go to www.qmsu.org/getactive or ask at Qmotion Reception.

• new training sessions • consultation and direct one on one support • support with selecting qualified coaches • expansion of the strength and conditioning programme As you can see, Club Sport is really trying to drive sport

forward; with quality provision of coaching which will lead to better satisfaction levels and (hopefully) better results. As I write this article, the first round of BUCS fixtures is taking place.

We’ll bring you more on that next time!

Congratulations Karolis!

Before:

After:

Karolis Bagdonas, Qmotion’s new fitness assistant, has been nominated for a National Fitness Award for Achievement.

• In April 2010 Karolis weighed 157kg, spoke little English and had never used a gym before…

• Now Karolis is known as the guy in the gym with the biggest arms, and his English has improved tremendously!

• Karolis lost 60kg within the first year by training twice a day six days per week, and gained 15kgs of muscle.

Everybody is very proud of Karolis and what he has achieved and we all wish him the best of luck with the National Fitness Award.

For more information and contact details visit: www.qmsu.org

Whats On?

Week 1 Mon 31st Oct. – Mondays calling Fright Night Wed 2nd Nov.– Play On Superheroes & Villans Wed 2nd Nov. - Blu Cheese @ The Griffinn Thurs 3rd Nov. – Envy @ Fabric London Fri 4th Nov. – FND Full Moon Party Fri 4th Nov. - SHAG fundraiser @ The Griffinn

Hello to all our QMUL students. Hope you enjoyed our mad, crazy freshers week period. As we say the fun never stops with Queen Mary so November sees a host of some of the most exciting events you will encounter being a Queen Mary student:

Week 2 Reading Week...See you next week at Drapers!

Wed 9th Nov. - Blu Cheese @ The Griffinn Sat12th Nov. - The Griffinn Closing party

Below is our schedule of great events for the month of November and what better way to kick it of then with a SUPERHEROES & VILLANS PARTY!!!

Week 3 Mon 14th Nov. – Mondays calling Wed 16th Nov. – Play On Toga Party Wed 16th Nov. - BLSA Pool Party @ Aquarium Fri 18th November – FND Krispy Kreme Party

Remember to get all your tickets for all events from www.qmsu.org or the Blomeley centre.

Join our facebook group: Queen Mary / QMUL / QMSU / QM FRESHERS 2011 - 2012

Week 4 Mon 21st Nov. – Mondays calling Wed 23rd Nov. – Play On cadets Wed 23rd Nov. - BLSA Tables @ The New Globe Fri 24th November – FND Popcorn Party

Add us on twitter: @QMSU BBPin: 215C5AD

id: You d You Sa usic an m e v i l ore ts. ic even want m l o h o lling c l ays Ca non-a d e n r o o m d ed M roduc nth an t o n i m e a d: W once d We Di bands e of goo v t i l h h g i t i n ,a Live, w s. ay >>> d s r etition u p h m T o s i c Th and ames g , d o fo

Week 5

If you’ve been snapped at one of our events check out some of our pics on our facebook group.

You Said, We Did...

Mon 28th Nov. – Mondays calling Wed 30th Nov. – Hail Mary Wed 30th Nov. - BLSA Tables @ The New Globe Fri 2nd Dec. – FND Where’s Wally Party

BLSA Refurbishment

After conducting THE BIG QMSU SURVEY in March and April, your Students’ Union listened to your comments and made some changes around campus. Here are just some of the issues we picked up on. Also look out for others throughout the newsletter.

You Said: You don’t want to pay a card charge for payments under £5 in our shops and cafes.

We Did: We abolished the card charge and minimum spend in all of our shops and cafes.

You Said: Classes at Qmotion were busy and oversubscribed.

The BLSA building in Whitechapel will be closing for refurbishments on 16th November, with the Griffinn bar closing party on Saturday 12th November. The building will reopen in March with a completely refurbished ground floor and with minor edits to the first floor as well. The building will have a new reception area and shop at the Newark Street entrance, and a new layout for the Griffinn bar.

While refurbishments take place students can still make appointments to visit our temporary office at the new Bio Innovation Centre.

We Did: We increased the number of classes, included more 30 minute classes and introduced 5pm classes to combat congestion at 5:30pm.

You Said: The waiting lines in Ground were too long.

We Did: We’re trialing new equipment to help speed things along including a 60-second Panini Grill!

You Said: You want healthier and better quality food and a better range of foods available on campus.

We Did: We stocked the Learning Cafe full of healthy food and salads and we made out Drapers food healthier by switching to using a chargrill and ensuring all food is made fresh.

id: You es You Sa iliti ed fac v o r p us. m Camp l want i e p a ch ting in White s r e u v o n i t a are SA d: We i the BL D f e o W t n e r. bishm Inn Ba ff i r a refur G g and Buildin

For more information and contact details visit: www.qmsu.org