Briefing Pack General Information for Team Leaders and Helpers
Orientation Basics Aims of Orientation Programme The primary aims of Orientation are to ensure that students will; Arrive safely on campus
Be able to find your way around Central Campus and the Local Area
Fully enrol with the university and receive your Student ID card
Start the process of opening a bank account
Register with a doctor
Additional aims of Orientation are to encourage students to;
Feel a sense of belonging to the Warwick Student Community
Become acquainted with fellow new Students at Warwick and begin some lifelong friendships
Have an awareness of UK learning styles and gain some essential academic skills
Be aware of issues particular to International Students (e.g. immigration issues, police registration, road safety and security concerns) and become acquainted with the numerous Support Services provided by the University and Warwick SU
Understand the role of Warwick SU (Students’ Union) and its many Clubs and Societies
Discover some great opportunities to integrate into the Local Community
Develop your cultural awareness to aid the transition to living and studying in the UK
Orientation Team Structure Orientation is organised by the “Student Experience” Team within the International Office (IO). Emily Lim, the Internationalisation officer, is the lead staff member regarding Orientation, aided by George Whitworth, the Orientation Coordinator. Throughout Orientation we work closely with the Students’ Union (SU) to deliver key aspects of the programme, as well as use the SU building as a headquarters, and it is likely that you will come into contact with various members of staff. Jackie Smyth is the SU marketing manager, and will be especially visible during the first day of Orientation and during the i-Freshers roadshow. Rob Chamberlain, SU Entertainments manager, is responsible for coordinating ‘Night Owl’ events, as well as helping facilitate many of the ‘Early Bird’ Events. While Rob will not be on duty every evening, if you are scheduled to support an evening event, it will be made clear to you who the relevant staff members on the night are, and how you can contact them. We also draw on input from other members of the University community. The Centre for Applied Linguistics (CAL) provide the ‘Key Skills Seminars’, and a third party organisation support the tours of Coventry and the local area. Various members of WarwickSport staff and club and society executives will be integral in the delivery of certain sporting and social activities. As with SU activities, where you are scheduled to work with these other groups, you will be given the contact information of the relevant persons in the individual briefing notes.
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Reporting Structures Team Leaders will be the first point of contact for all their helpers. Team Leaders should report feedback any questions, concerns and queries to George who will be liaising closely with Emily throughout the week. The 10 team leaders will manage and delegate responsibilities as per the team rotas to the 7 other team members (‘helpers’). They are expected to carry out duties and tasks, just like the helpers, but with the added responsibility of ensuring their team members are performing as well. The reporting structure works both ways and Team Leaders will also be the first point of call for both George and Emily. Remember that Orientation takes months of preparation. Both the management of Orientation and the Coordinator will trust helpers to see the event for what it is and NOT a week long party. Please respect them and behave appropriately. George will have ‘Coordinator' printed on his t-shirt and Emily and all other International Office staff members will have 'Staff' printed on theirs. All Team Leaders, George and Emily will have a radio at all times whilst on duty – the easiest way to inform George and Emily of any key information will be over the radio. They will also be contactable by mobile phone in any emergencies.
Security and Emergencies University Campus Security will be patrolling the campus at all hours. They will have access to the radio channel which Coordinators and Team Leaders will be using to help ease communication. If you are confronted with an emergency situation during Orientation, your first thought should be to use the number below to inform campus security, and then to make contact with George or Emily afterwards. Emergency: 22222 (internal) or 112 (emergency services) from a mobile In the event that you need to contact campus security and it is not an emergency, please use the following numbers: Non-emergency: 22083 (internal) or 024765 22083 Accidents and near misses within the SU building MUST be reported to the SU. A health and safety briefing will be included in the Training Day. Each evening, SU Security will be in charge of the venue. Respect for Stewards, Door Supervisors and Security Managers is to be maintained at all times. Helpers (including team leaders) will have no authority over SU Security, who are trained to do their job and, to them, each evening event of Orientation is just another day at work. Should an issue arise with any SU staff, be respectful and non-confrontational and discuss the matter with George. While in SU venues, in an emergency contact a Steward or Door Supervisor or any member of SU staff. Remember, smoking indoors in public areas is illegal – many attendees may not realise this, so if you see them lighting up inside, politely let them know, or inform venue stewards/security. It is also forbidden to smoke in campus residences, which attendees may also enquire about!
Helpers Helpers are the engine of Orientation. While they have assigned tasks as per the team rotas they need to do a lot more! They are the eyes on the ground and will pick up more information about the participants than staff and coordinators. They will also be better located to anticipate problems that may hinder the success of Orientation, and, as the sharp individuals you all are, we expect you to use your initiative to prevent or mitigate any issues, where appropriate. Helpers are on the ‘front lines’ and need to be providers of excellent guest service, and act as a sponge with respect to guest feedback. This means going out of your way to help new students in suitable ways, and ensuring that any 3
feedback, positive or negative, that you pick up on is fed back through your team leader. There are nearly 14 participants for every helper! As Student Ambassadors for the University, helpers are role models. New students will be less intimidated by helpers and so will ask more questions, expecting honest answers. Information for participants needs to be placed into context and background information is always welcome.
General Overview Rotas and Briefings You have each received a copy of your rota for the week. You will notice by the colour coding on the rotas that often there are several teams working on similar, or the same events. It is vital in these situations that you work well across teams, be adaptable and flexible, and that team leaders communicate with one another, ensuring that any needs are met. Team leaders will be fully appraised in their task-specific briefings of which other teams they are expected to work with and at which times. At the start of each day you will have a team briefing, which is a chance for your team leader to prepare the team for the day and ensure there is clarity of the team’s purpose. You will also be expected to have dinner as a team in the evening, and take a few minutes to reflect on the day, making sure any issues that arose are reported, or feeding back any relevant information. The team leaders will be responsible for coordinating this process and ensuring relevant information gets passed on to George and Emily.
Information Desk There is at least one team assigned to the Information Desk for most of each day. This will be in the Atrium, and will be where attendees register on the first day, and also the central hub of Orientation where they can get the answers they need about …anything! It will also be the location from where any ‘helper swaps’ are coordinated – there may be times when some teams are less busy than others, and helpers may need to temporarily switch teams as necessary. Team leaders will be briefed on how to conduct this process to ensure that no helpers are ‘lost’ or left feeling aimless!
Orientation Groups Every student attending Orientation is allocated to a certain group. On arrival on campus, these groups will be given a wristband, and the students should be aware that this means they will be attending certain activities at certain times, as detailed below.
Postgraduate
Group Size 90
Enrolment Wed 25th 11.45-12.15
Signposts Wed 25th 09.30-10.30
Key Skills Seminar Room (Thur 26th) S0.21
2 / Dark Green
Postgraduate
90
13.15-13.45
09.30-10.30
LIB2
Fri 27th
3 / Orange
Eras/Exchange
120
10.45-11.15
09.30-10.30
F1.07
Weds 25th
4 / Red
Eras/Exchange
120
11.15-11.45
09.30-10.30
PLT
Weds 25th
5 / Pink
Postgraduate
90
13.45-14.15
09.30-10.30
F111
Fri 27th
6 / Purple
Undergraduate
120
09.45-10.15
11.00-12.00
H0.51
Fri 27th
7 / Dark Blue
Undergraduate
120
10.15-10.45
11.00-12.00
H0.52
Fri 27th
8 / Light Blue
Undergraduate
120
14.15-14.45
11.00-12.00
LT4
Fri 27th
9 / Grey
Undergraduate
120
14.45-15.15
11.00-12.00
LT5
Fri 27th
10 / Black
Undergraduate
120
15.15-15.45
11.00-12.00
F110
Fri 27th
Group
Student Type
1 / Light Green
Coventry Tour Fri 27th
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NB It is very important that attendees wear their wristbands at all times! There will be a number of students on campus who have not paid to attend Orientation, so we are relying on team members to be aware of anyone trying to attend Orientation activities or services without the wristband. If you do see someone without a wristband, please let your Team Leader know! Further details on the enrolment, signposts, key skills and tour events are included later in this briefing. You will notice on the team lists that your colour matches the colour of the group that shares your team number, and that your dinner has been scheduled at the same time as your group. This is so that as your team heads into dinner, you will be expected to chat to the students both in the queue and at the tables, and you should be able to get to know the students in the group which shares your number/colour. As well as helping them to settle in, this will be a great opportunity to collect any feedback from students, and, if any queues get out of hand, it also means that we know there will be team members around to make everything run smoothly! Which leads us nicely onto…
Meals Lunch is not provided during Orientation. Both team members and attendees will need to organise their own lunch arrangements each day, and there are gaps in the program accordingly. NB Helpers will often not have a set ‘lunch time’ – on these occasions it is the team leaders responsibility to ensure that the whole team are able to take appropriate lunch breaks at staggered timings! Breakfast and Dinner will be served in Rootes Restaurant. Rootes Restaurant has a capacity of 500 at a given time. To accommodate all the participants, we have split the participants into two separate dinner sittings. As above, groups 1-5 will get their dinner between 1800 and 1845. Groups 6-10 will get dinner between 1845 and 1930. This applies to team members as well as participants, remember! Breakfast times will not be split up according to groups, but students will still need to be wearing a wristband to receive a meal.
Residences Please respect the rooms and kitchens that are provided for you during Orientation. We intend to maintain a good working relationship with Warwick Accommodation and Warwick Conferences. We can only trust you to help ensure this is possible. In the past cleaners have found kitchens in various states, leftover from the previous evening, which is unacceptable when the rooms you are using need to be ready for new students to move in on the Saturday morning! Feel free to have fun, but please leave the kitchens and bedrooms in the same state that you moved into them!
Venue Clear up – Each activity If you are the last team to be assigned to an activity, please ensure you have cleared it down appropriately. Check the room or area is left clean and presentable, and there are no lost belongings around. Valuable items (radios, Orientation wristbands, lost belongings, sign-up sheets etc) should be taken to the IKEA room in the SU Atrium and stored securely overnight. George will have the key to this room, so radio him if you have any access problems. Also make necessary arrangements or preparations for the following day, if the same venue is being re-used.
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Evening Events and Entertainment Each night, a few teams are scheduled to help deliver the Early Bird and Night Owl events, but most of you will not feature on a rota as the evening unfolds. As members of the Orientation team, you are welcome to attend the Orientation events so long as you are contributing to the atmosphere positively! This means get involved with activities, chat to people (team members and attendees!) and you are welcome to have a few drinks, responsibly! Make sure you are wearing your team wristband at all times, as you will need these to get into any events. The Night Owl events will be open to those not on Orientation, subject to capacity (ie, Orientation attendees get let in first!), and there will be a small charge (ÂŁ3) on the door.
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