Dear students, This week marks our 9th week of remote learning and teaching. And, despite new routines and new rhythms to our days, these remain strange times, with all of us trying to make the best of the current circumstances, investing significant effort and energy in remote learning, in supporting ourselves and our families and friends. We recognise the challenge all of this presents to all of us – and that some of us will be finding this new living and learning environment harder, as time goes on. This makes it all the more important for us to take real care of ourselves and our loved ones in our response to the current situation. If this resonates with you, please do take time to consider if you need to rebalance how you invest your time. During this unprecedented period, self-care is absolutely essential. This means paying attention to your well-being. Look after yourself, give yourself a break, take time out of a busy work day or take time off. If you feel you need to ask for support, do that. And if you feel you should check in with a colleague or a friend or family member, do that too. This week, the College celebrates Mental Health Awareness Week, the theme of which is kindness, which we have seen in abundance across the college community over recent months – read more here. As a college community, we have provided donations to food banks, delivered protective equipment to local health and care providers, provided pamper packages to our local care homes, volunteered to support our most vulnerable residents. We have supported a real sense of people, partnership and community, of coming together to help one another. As your College Principal and Student President, we are absolutely committed to supporting the health and wellbeing of all our students, and to working with you to ensure success in all your endeavours. We have a number of resources that will support your learning at home – email our library staff for helpful advice on library@slc.ac.uk. Our Guidance and Support team continue to be available – on student.support@slc.ac.uk. We’ve worked hard over recent weeks to process applications to the student hardship fund – please direct queries to bursaries@slc.ac.uk. We have recently published updated guidance on assessment and certification – read more here. And we are actively promoting our courses for the next academic session and processing applications. Our full course list can be found here. And, our virtual information events will take place on 26, 27 and 28 May – read more here. While the building may not be physically open, South Lanarkshire College does remain open for business as a virtual place of learning and teaching. And, within the College, we continue to consider the various possible scenarios which may unfold for the new academic year and we’ll share these with you when we can. As ever, we are hugely grateful for all that you do to support the work of the College and the success of all our students. Let’s continue to look out for one another. Please continue to access the online learning that is available, keep in touch with your lecturers, and do make use of all the support and advice that is available. Keep well. Stay safe. Take care of yourselves and your loved ones. All best wishes,
Aileen McKechnie Principal & Chief Executive
Elizabeth Newlands Student President