During November the section heads met to review progress with the six themes within the Student Services strategy which we launched last year. In this issue of the Connection I wanted to draw attention to two themes in particular: Working Sustainably; and Developing our Teams. A key plank in our sustainability plans relates to the departmental estate - and our aim to consolidate into fewer - and better - locations. A huge milestone was passed this Autumn with the move of our recruitment, admissions and international relations teams into the Arts Tower - with the potential for all sorts of benefits in more effective team working and a more environmental and cost effective approach to office systems and procedures. My special thanks go to all those who have played a part in that move, with planning and preparation over a long period. And this month we shall be undertaking a review of our Investors in People accreditation - one of the ways in which we can judge progress with the Developing our Teams theme. We have invested significantly in staff development in the new departmental strategy, and I am delighted that two new development schemes for colleagues will be launching this year: the placements and secondments scheme and the 'centre of the university' programme - look out for more details in your team or have a word with a member of the departmental staff development group if you would like to find out more. Once again I want to pass on my thanks to anyone involved in the Investors in People review. Don't forget that at any time you can check on progress relating to the departmental strategy at http://www.shef.ac.uk/ssd/student-services-strategy.

Finally a reminder of your invitation to seasonal refreshments in the Jessop West Exhibition Space on 13 December at 1600 after the staff briefing at 1500. I hope to see many of you there.

THE CONNECTION

The Student Services Department Staff Newsletter

Andrew West, Director of Student Services

CONTENTS:

Page 2, 3, 4. Announcements

Page 5. Volunteering

Page 6. Staff Well Being Group & Office Moves

Page 7. 10 Questions: Learning & Teaching Services

Page 8. Careers Service welcomes employers onto campus

Page 9. Charity fundraising

Page 10. Assistive Software Launch

Page 11. ELTC go carting

Page 12. Student Services Week

Page 13. Book Club

Page 14. ELTC’s British Council Inspection

Page 15. Christmas recipe

Page 16. A Flavour of....the Student Jobshop

Page 17. Cheers!

Page 18. Meet the Editorial Team

• Student Recruitment, Admissions and International Relations • • Learning and Teaching Services • Student Support and Guidance • • Student Health and Wellbeing • English Language Teaching Centre •

• Careers Service •

November 2011 Issue

Engagement News from Student Health and Well-Being

Congratulations to Kerry Mellors and Russell Walker on their recent Engagement. Wedding plans are under way.

OH NO, THE BIG 40!! Registry Services wishes Jo White a Happy 40th Birthday.

Wedding Bells were ringing for Emily Savage and Mark Ansell on

September 17th at Denton Church, Norfolk, followed by a Honeymoon in South West France.

The Chaplaincy Service welcomes Jenny Rivers Mohan, Chaplaincy Assistant, and Claire Wood,

Outreach Worker.

Goodbye: or “Hwyl fawr” to Kate Tindle, Head of Counselling Service. Kate has been commuting for 4

years from her home in Wales and has decided the time is right to make a permanent move. Kate has taken up the post of Head of Service at Bangor University.

Academic Support in Learning & Teaching Services would like to welcome Katharine Lingard who

joins us as Learning & Teaching Support Assistant for the Faculty of Arts & Humanities. She is covering Tracy Mayes' maternity leave.

We would also like to bid a fond farewell to Tom Rhodes and Karen Anderson, as although they officially started their new roles in the International Relations Office a few months ago, only physically left our building in October to move to the Arts Tower.

As of 1st November, Deanna Meth has moved from her role of Learning & Teaching Support Officer to that of Learning & Teaching Development Manager. This will involve developmental work in areas related to the Learning & Teaching Strategy, such as Internationalisation, the Sheffield Graduate and Personal Development Planning.

Welcome and Goodbyes! Admissions Service warmly welcome Louise Runagle and Matt Harris who both joined the Admissions Information Desk as Applicant Support Assistants in September. They have both settled in really quickly and are already part of the family. Two interesting facts: Louise was once in a pop music video and Matt has a titanium plate in his right shoulder thanks to a Chinese kick boxing tournament.

Baby News! Congratulations to: Chaplaincy Service: Reverend Jem Clines and wife Louise on the birth of the new baby Nathaniel Jonah Alfred born at home on 18 October, weighing 8.2. Brother to Esther Mary Grace, aged 2. Mum and baby doing very well.

ELTC’s: Imran Khan who has become a dad, for the second time!

DDSS: would like to congratulate Fiona Clifford and her partner Judy on the birth of their baby, Rosa, who was born in March. We would also like to congratulate Alison Jones and her husband Carwyn on the birth of their baby, Gwilym, who was born in April. Congratulations also to Margaret Evans for becoming a grandmother with the birth of Jennifer on Christmas day.

More

English Learning and Teaching Centre, ELTC

Congratulations to the ELTC‟s Karla Rohde MMedSci, who has successfully completed her masters in

speech therapy!

Goodbye and thank you to Golanna, Shiva, Rachel and Romy, who have all left the admin team to embark

on new challenges, we will miss them all! The ELTC would like to welcome Chris Jenkin and Orla Foster (who actually joined us in June!) and more recently Saima and Andonis, to the admin team.

The Careers Service was pleased to receive an AGCAS (Association of Graduate Careers Advisory

Services) Award for Excellence in the Staff Development category following the AGCAS biennial national conference. Our submission was based around the Careers Service's Summer School programme which is delivered every year and in which all staff participate. The aim of the Summer School is to ensure all staff have access to relevant training and information on a range of current topics, from an understanding of the contribution of the Careers Service to the wider University, through to updates on specific areas of work. Speakers are drawn from within the Service, the University and occasionally external to the organisation.

Pat (bottom left) with fellow Totley team

ELTC teacher Pat Goodall, has again achieved 2nd place in her age group in both the English (over 55) and British (over 50) fell running Championships. She took part in nine races varying in distance from 2 – 20 miles, with up to 7000 feet of climb. Several of the events took place in the north of England including the Lake District but she also travelled down to Shropshire, up to Moffat in Scot-land and across to Bala in Wales as well as the Mourne Mountains in Northern Ireland. Her love of the country-side, as well as keeping fit, promoted her to take up the sport while in her forties. She is currently increasing her running distance in order to undertake some long dis-tance challenges next year, perhaps starting with running Hadrian‟s Wall over a 3 day period next spring.

The Taught Programmes Office heartily welcomes back Katie Owen. Katie rejoined us at the

end of August having been on maternity leave following the birth of (not so) little Samuel Joseph. She is

resuming her responsibilities for the Faculty of Science, alongside Sally Merrett and will be working

Mondays. Welcome Back Katie.

The Taught Programme Office send their congratulations to Liz Merry and her husband John following the birth of James David on 3 September 2011. James weighed in at a healthy 6lbs 8ozs . The Taught Programmes Office also welcomes Michael Hammond to the Team who has joined us from his most recent post at the UK Border Agency. Michael will be covering for Liz during her maternity leave and hopefully you will have a chance to meet with him as your paths cross during his training programme.

Student Support And Guidance Kate Cruise and Susan Sisson have decided to move on to pastures new. We wish them all lots of luck and

happiness in their new ventures. As part of the 2012 project, Jonny McQuillin, has been appointed to the

Financial Support Team.

Outreach & UK/EU Recruitment are pleased to welcome some new additions to the team: Denise Brooks who will be running the Higher Education Preparation Programme and

developing study skills outreach support for pre-university students in the local region. She has moved to Sheffield from Bristol last year with her partner and absolutely loves it here, especially being so close to the Peaks and such beautiful walks! She has an enormous cat - the mysterious Mr X and DETESTS mushrooms.

Tim Gabriel , our new Activities Outreach Officer, who will be working on a job share basis on the Us in Schools (Mentoring )programme. Tim has been involved in various Outreach projects during his career and joins us from University College York where he had been working in his own field of Chemistry, researching Nano Materials. We‟re hoping to be able to utilise Tim‟s knowledge of the sciences to help in promoting Science & Engineering to the younger generation as his role develops. He‟ll be commuting in from Cleckheaton by cycle , train & tram!

Stacey Mottershaw, who spent 3 years working in the International Exchange Unit, joins us as the Project Assistant to the Us in Schools project having spent some time with the team in the summer assisting in the development of the new project. Stacey is a University of Sheffield Philosophy student and is keen to promote our work in Widening Participation as she came to study at Sheffield through the old Compact Scheme.

Ian McGarry has recently joined us on secondment from Admissions as UG Students Recruitment Officer covering Laura Maltman‟s maternity leave. Ian is a great addition to the team with his details Admissions knowledge and previous Student Recruitment experience will prove invaluable to the team.

Student Services Information Desk, SSiD, would like to welcome Jamie Barnard who joined us

in October as an Information Assistant. Jamie is a graduate of the University and some of you may recognise him from the Student‟s Union reception and Box Office.

I am sure you may have already noticed that Josh the Tache Armstrong is

now sporting a painfully embarrassing moustache for the purpose of raising funds for the Movember Charity. He will be keeping and tweaking it until the end of November, following his dad's recent battle with cancer (which fortunately he is pulling through). The aim of Movember is to raise awareness and money to tackle male cancer issues including prostate cancer. If any of you would like to donate then you can do so by visiting his Movember page on http://mobro.co/Sickpuppy where you can also see pictures of him looking rather foolish. If you know anyone else who may wish to donate to this worthy cause then please feel free to forward this on to them. If you want to make cash donations, please put them in a jar or an envelope and give to Josh. In particular, if you wish to make unpleasant comments, you really ought to dig deep!!! "See how many others you can spot who are also taking part in Movember".

Tim Cooper has been elected to serve on the University Court for the period 2011-2014 as one of two

representatives of clerical and secretarial staff. The Court is a large, formal body that serves a number of official and unofficial functions. It is consulted on the appointment of the Chancellor and one of its main responsibilities is to foster a healthy relationship between the University and the wider community.

The Careers Service congratulates Helen Tattam, HEAR

Project Support Officer, both for the conferral of her PhD and for her marriage to William Grainger in July (what a month!). Helen and William were married in Buxton Pavilion Gardens and spent their honeymoon climbing mountains in the French Pyrenees.

Even More

Over the last few months some of the Student Services teams have taken part in volunteering activities, here’s a snap shot of what they’ve been up

After welcoming a few new team members in quite a short space of time The International Office decided recently that a spot of team bonding was on the cards. The standard Friday night after work drinks were deemed simply not enough so we looked for other options and ended up doing a day‟s volunteering at The Leonard Cheshire Centre in Totley.

„Leonard Cheshire Disability‟ is the UK's largest voluntary sector provider of services to disabled people and the centre on Mickley Lane provides a home, care and support for many people with a wide range of physical and mental disabilities. We arrived in the morning in our scruffs and our jobs included re-painting trellises and sheds, de-weeding courtyards and the team favourite - brushing sand into the paving cracks.

It was definitely an interesting day - a good way to get out of the office and see everyone in a different environment as well as helping to give something back to the community.

Registry Services had a wonderful day volunteering at Whirlow Hall Farm this summer. Tasks consisted of clearing and planting a garden area, collecting and sizing eggs, checking the Werlow vines (shame the wine will be a couple of years away!) and picking the last of the seasons gooseberries. A good day was had by all and the picture shows the completed garden area.

On a very hot Wednesday at the beginning of August the Recruitment Support team headed out to The Steel Valley Project for a day of volunteering. This heritage based project aims to make this hidden landscape accessible to the widest possible community, both local people and those from the wider area of Sheffield and Barnsley and has successfully undertaken a very wide range of landscape and green space enhancement projects within Stocksbridge.

We were taken to a large wooded area and given a daunting task of clearing a vast amount of overgrown bracken. We all charged off with an array of scary looking chopping tools and began hacking our way through it (spot the team members in the undergrowth!). It was a really hot sweaty day and we all worked really hard!! But

much fun was had by all and we even offered to return again next year!

Article by Jo Bower, Recruitment Support

The Student Development and Support Team had their away day on 11th August. The team spent the morning volunteering at the Community Allotments at Crookes. The team helped to clear an area that would be used to grow food for local charities. The team went on for a well deserved rest in the afternoon - spent on team development plans!

The Student Services Department has a strong commitment to the health and well-being of its staff. A cross-department group leads on activities aimed at promoting staff health and well-being and it has organised activities such as fitness classes, volunteering days and walking challenges. Pilates classes were very popular and more are being set up in the near future and we are hoping to introduce more fitness classes such as Boxercise and yoga. A large group of staff took part in volunteering in the summer at the Leonard Cheshire Home in Totley which is a Residential Home for people with disabilities. They helped with gardening, de-mossing paving stones in the courtyard and painting a shed and guttering ready for their Summer Fair. Everyone enjoyed this and found it very rewarding even though there were a few sore backs! We are eager to set up more volunteering activities and one is being arranged shortly so watch out for the announcement. Helping out in the wider community is very rewarding and will leave you not only with a great sense of achievement but gives you the chance to meet new people and gain new skills. Other activities we have discussed are a running club, book club, knitting group and smoking cessation amongst many others. We will be distributing a survey shortly to find out what staff would like and would be grateful if everyone could get involved, especially more men as we are interested in their views. We have created a website http://www.shef.ac.uk/ssd/staff/wellbeing to highlight some of our work, provide information on what´s happening and offer information on various aspects of health and well-being. If you have a healthy recipe for the website or any other ideas for activities or suggestions please get in touch via your section contact.

Student Recruitment, Admissions and International Relations are now based in the Arts Tower on levels one to three. This covers the individual teams of: the Admissions Service, the International Office, the International Relations Office, Recruitment Support and UK/EU Recruitment and Outreach. All staff will be contactable by their existing phone numbers and visitors are being asked to report to the new Arts Tower Professional Services Reception on level one for meetings. We are experiencing a few teething problems with Gavin and Sarah Bramall working truly open plan missing a couple of walls for their offices! There has also already been an incident with the Paternoster with Al Carlile getting stuck on it on the first day when it suddenly decided to stop working! But it‟s a really nice place to work and we are finally all together in one place. Come and pay us a visit and check out the newly refurbished Arts Tower.

Jo Bower, Recruitment Support

Sandra France, Student Services Information Desk

Each issue we ask a team or a member of Student Services ten questions

to see if we can discover what makes them tick.....................this time it‟s the

Academic Support Team in Learning & Teaching Services

10 QUESTIONS

Question Sue Davison Policy & Guidance

Ryan Armitage Clerical Officer

Deanna Meth L&T Development

1. What is your idea of food heaven?

Anything meat free prepared with love and care, but if I have to choose - deli food, Thai or Indian.

Fajitas - I love Mexican food and Fajitas are my absolute favourite. I always over fill them and things can get quite messy, but it's worth it.

Comfort food of any sort - the richer and creamier the better.

2. Food hell? Fast food in throwaway containers.

I can't stand the taste of marzipan, fruit cake and horseradish.

Fruit and bones.

3. What is your favourite place you have visited so far in life and why?

I love mountainous places, and for that 'on another planet' feeling, Iceland wins hands down.

Healey Dell Nature Reserve in Whitworth Rochdale. I grew up living 5 minutes away and spent many years playing there in my youth.

In central Australia, just outside Alice Springs is a spot called Ellery Creek Big Hole - closest to heaven I've found.

4. What music do you currently have on your i-pod?

All sorts, both old and new(ish) but current favourites are Kasabian and Massive Attack.

Avenged Sevenfold , Prodigy, Muse , Biffy Clyro, Hollywood Undead, Papa Roach, Pink Floyd.

My daughter has an iPod, does that count? I have Pink Floyd 'The Wall' on my mobile & a South African angst song by Bright Blue, "Weeping".

5.What do you do to unwind or relax?

Walk, run or bike around Sheffield and the Peak District, catch up with friends, watch films.

Get together with my mates and listen to music, have a few drinks, play Xbox, watch latest shows (Death Valley, Wilfred, Archer etc).

Run, sing, eat, and drink red wine.

6.Tell us something that not many people know about you?

I was a film extra in The Princess Bride. This involved wandering around Haddon Hall for a few days dressed as a medieval villager.

The name I use - Ryan - is in fact my middle name, and my first name / real name is actually Carl.

My dreadful middle name 'Lorrine' is not a spelling error - my mother decided in her wisdom to make it up.

7.Who would you least like to be stuck on the Arts Tower paternoster with?

Andrew Lansley or Alan Carr.

George Bush, Karl Rove, Dick Cheney etc.

"Kevin" as in "We need to talk about Kevin" - I would not know what to say to him.

8. What was the last thing that made you laugh?

The Tent, the Bucket and Me, by Emma Kennedy, a book about disastrous camping trips in the '70s.

Archer - That'll do pigly, that'll do!!

The anti-gravity room in the puzzling place, Keswick.

9. What‟s your all time favourite film?

I love sci fi, so it would have to be either Blade Runner or the Matrix.

28 Days Later (close thing with Fight club and Tron)

„The Angel, the Bicycle and the Chinaman's Finger‟ is a firm family favourite.

10. What‟s your tipple? A nice chilled Sauvignon Blanc please, or a Coffee Rev latte.

Talisker (single malt whisky)

A single malt whisky (by the log burner) .

At the Careers Service a small and very active team of staff are involved in building, maintaining and developing links with employers. It‟s a year-round operation and in periods of recession the level of activity always steps up a few notches as we try to engage with as many employers as possible at a time when they often have fewer vacancies and/or reduced resources to spend on recruitment. Key to our activities is myVacancies, the Careers Service‟s online vacancy system which operates out of a database containing details of approximately 5000 employers. At any one time we can have up to 500 employers advertising their vacancies and hoping to attract applications from our students for jobs after graduation but also for part-time work and internships and vacation work. As well as promoting a broad range of job vacancies we also manage a series of events whose primary aim is to bring students into direct contact with employers. This autumn we are in the process of organising one of the busiest programmes of employer presentations for several years. Already 60 employers have arranged to visit us in the period up to the end of November and at the time of writing the bookings are still coming in. We welcome all types of organisation but most employers in the programme are well-known, major brand names (Marks & Spencer, Virgin Media, EDF Energy). A typical event will include a formal presentation followed by opportunities for students to network with company representatives – amongst whom we normally expect to find a good sprinkling of our own graduates! Average attendances this autumn are at an all-time high with most events drawing average audiences of around 60 and the most popular attracting over 100 (Roll-Royce, Teach First, Deloitte). Employers who prefer to meet students on an individual basis can sign up to hold a One-to-One session. This is a great way for employers to have short informal chats at the Careers Service with students who already have a clear idea of what they want to do. Students get the chance to ask their own questions while employers are able to get a real feel for the individuals they would like to see submit applications. Mock Interview and Skills for Success sessions provide employers with ways of visiting the campus for more altruistic reasons. Each year we run a series of 20 employer-led Skills for Success sessions when employers visit the campus to run interactive workshops designed to introduce students to those skills they most commonly seek e.g. problem-solving, commercial awareness, teamworking, negotiating, etc. Our largest and highest profile events are the Careers Fairs. Most of these highly successful events are joint ventures run with our colleagues at Sheffield Hallam University. We review and develop our Fairs on a continuous basis to ensure that we meet both employer and student needs. Each year the schedule launches in the autumn with two major specialist events - the Engineering, Science and IT Fair and the Business and Finance Fair (attended this year by a total of 130 employers and 3350 students). We also organise a major general recruitment Fair, „Spring into Jobs‟ in Semester 2. This year we are collaborating with a small number of academic departments to pilot some smaller scale niche events and the first of these, the Modern Languages Fair, takes place on 16 November. We also organise „virtual‟ online events - a Summer Experience Fair will take place over an extended period in Semester 2 aimed at students seeking vacation work, voluntary work, gap year projects etc, and a Summer Graduate Recruitment Online Fair will run at the end of the academic year to help students who have left the campus and are still seeking employment to match up with employers who still have vacancies. We also organise a Legal Fair and work closely with the Students Union in the holding of the Part-time Jobs and Volunteering Fair. Find out more at http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/careers

What a start to the Semester! The Careers Service

welcomes over 300 employers onto campus

already.....

Gill Anderson, The Careers Service Employer and Administration Team

Charity Charity

FundraisingFundraising

Wear it Pink dayWear it Pink day

All the staff of SRAIR, having begun to settle in their new home on Levels 1-3 of the Arts Tower, finished the week with a fundraiser in aid of Breast Cancer Campaign. Staff were invited to wear something pink to work and some people made cakes and biscuits to sell to make some extra cash. As can be seen by the photos, some people made a lot of effort. The money raised from this event reached £120. Plus gift aid = £144 and more to follow!

Charity Cake bakeCharity Cake bake

Joanna Sutcliffe at the ELTC regularly organises a charity cake bake. The last sale made £105 pounds, including £10 from SIC and the proceeds went to the DEC East African appeal. The previous 3 were in aid of cancer charities and Mind. There is another cake bake coming up toward the end of November or beginning of December. Joanna is collecting ideas for other charities to support in the future.

Macmillan Big Coffee Macmillan Big Coffee

MorningMorning

At the end of September Outreach and Recruitment organised a coffee morning with lots of fabulous cakes and treats. This raised £61 and was gift aided to make £75. Gill Rogers, Work Experience Assistant in the Careers Service, held a Beads, Buns and Biscuits event in aid of MacMillan Big Coffee Morning in July. They served coffee, cakes and biscuits and sold Gill‟s own range of So Me! jewellery to friends, colleagues and family. Overall they raised £102 for MacMillan. Gill has also held a number of jewellery sales at people's houses, donating 10% of all takings to a range of different charities. If you would like to buy So Me! jewellery, contact Gill on 0114 222 0960, by email at info@so-me.co.uk or go to the website http://www.so-me.co.uk for details.

Jeans Jeans

for for

GenesGenes

Members of SRAIR took part in this event and wore their jeans to work for the day. A total of £73 was raised, plus gift aid made it to £80.

Race for LifeRace for Life

Cheryl Hewitt ran Race for Life in the blazing sun in July and raised £136. Sarah Bramall (in the photo left) also ran it for the first time, She was determined to run it all, which she trained hard for and achieved! She also raised £448. Together making it £584 for Cancer

Tell us what you’ve Tell us what you’ve

done for next issue!done for next issue!

Article written by Becky Masaba-Kituyi, Admissions Service

Home grown VegHome grown Veg

Pete Lord in the Careers Service Library raised £50 for the Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society from the sale of surplus allotment produce, or to put it another way, forcing runner beans, courgettes and cucumbers on unsuspecting colleagues in return for a voluntary donation.

Robin Hood Half MarathonRobin Hood Half Marathon

Helen Tattam, HEAR Project Support Officer based in the Careers Service, raised £150 for Treetops Hospice when she ran in Nottingham's Robin Hood Half Marathon on Sunday 11th September - and also got a personal best by finishing in 1 hour 35 minutes (24th fastest female).

Sheffield Half Sheffield Half

MarathonMarathon

Maggie Bamford in the Careers Service ran the Sheffield half marathon and raised £900 for a charity based in Zimbabwe called Hlekweni. It aims to help young people become economically independent by offering vocational training in carpentry, plumbing, sewing, early childhood education and sustainable agricultural methods. There is also a school there and the charity raises funds for children to have sponsored places there....if their families cannot pay fees, their children receive no education. Further details on www.quaker.org/hlekweni

Total raised during the Total raised during the summer: Over £2,000summer: Over £2,000

By Jayne Woodward, DDSS

The Library, Computing Services and the Disability & Dyslexia Support Service jointly hosted a launch of assistive software on 12th October 2011 in the Information Commons. The launch was well attended by staff and students, and three demonstrations were given of the software by Nic Kirkman (student), Lois Burt (Library) and Ken Grace (CICS). The welcome was given by Claire Shanks (DDSS).

What do we have? The University currently has five different software packages on the Managed Desktop or on bookable computers in various Libraries: textHELP -reads text aloud, checks spelling and helps you to construct words and sentences by various easy-to-use means. Inspiration -creates a picture of your ideas and concepts in the form of a diagram or mind map and then exports this into an organised outline Microsoft Word document. Dolphin EasyConverter - converts documents into alternative formats. Zoomtext – magnification and screen reading programme. JAWS - screen reading software. Who can use it? Whilst the software is predominantly used by disabled students, it can also assist students who have English as an additional language and can be used by staff and students generally.

What is assistive software? Assistive software is a generic term used to refer to a group of software which can be used by disabled people to access computers. Although aimed at enabling disabled people to gain equal access to facilities and resources, well designed assistive software can improve access for all.

Pictured: Ken Grace demonstrating Inspiration, mind-mapping software. Picture by Andy Brown

For more information: http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/cics/access http://www.shef.ac.uk/library/services/assistech

On the afternoon of the 16th September the ELTC admin team travelled to Avago Karting in

Rotherham for the first (annual?) Admin Go-Kart Grand Prix. We had had to miss the annual ELTC

trip to Chatsworth due to being inundated with an unprecedented number of applications for the

International Summer School (which turned out to be the biggest ever, with almost 1000

students!), and the Go-Karting expedition was conceived as an alternative, as well as a team-

building afternoon and a thank you for our hard work during the Summer School.

We were split into two groups for the initial „qualifying‟

races. These races were 15 laps long; the aim of them

was to record a fastest lap time, which would be used

to place us either in the first or the second „final‟ race.

You might imagine that as we were only looking to

record a fastest lap these races would lack the

competitive spirit of the final, but you would be wrong,

and some of us might still have the bruises/whiplash to

prove it!

So it was with a better appreciation of one another‟s

driving skills, or lack of them, that we entered the final

races, which would decide who would be crowned the

first ever ELTC Grand Prix Champion. The first final was

between those who had recorded slower laps during

qualifying, but was nonetheless a spirited affair. Drivers

received a grid position based on their times, the winner

would be the first person to cross the line after 25 laps…

which, in the first race, was James Naseem! Caroline

Hunter came second and Rezleen Knapton was third.

The grand finale came next, with Chris Jenkin in pole position on the grid. Some would say that it

was natural ability, others that it was because he had spent a whole week researching driving

technique, but either way, after 25 hard fought laps, Chris crossed the line first, a phenomenal 13

seconds ahead of Jason Slade in second place, who was in turn followed (by less than one

second!) by Charlie Braham in third.

Congratulations should go not only to Chris but to

everyone who took part. A big thank you should go

to Caroline and Michelle for organising the

afternoon and to Richard for giving us permission to

go! Everyone certainly seemed to have a great time,

and we‟re all looking forward to next year‟s re-

match… The trip also allowed us to say goodbye to

Shiva Vaghei in the style she deserved. Shiva has

moved to Canada, but the image of her go-karting in

high-heels will live long in all of our minds!

Jason Slade, ELTC

Student Services Week 5-9 December 2011 Working Towards 2012 and Beyond

Organised collaboratively by colleagues from Recruitment Services, SSiD and the Director‟s Office, Student Services Week is a series of events taking place at the beginning of December, aimed at both promoting established programmes such as Recruitment Matters and Supporting the Supporters, and introducing our full range of services to a broader audience. With both the Careers Service and Learning and Teaching Services joining us recently, it seems like a particularly good time to let people know about the comprehensive range of support we offer. To draw in as wide an audience as possible, the publicity around the event is focussing on current priorities for academic departments such as 2012, and the key themes of the new Learning and Teaching Strategy. There will be sessions on a range of topics including: connecting with prospective applicants; supporting dyslexic students; our international and learning and teaching strategies; and support for professional academic development. Since our services encompass the whole student population, including taught and research postgraduates, there will be something happening during the week that‟s of interest to anyone involved in recruiting, teaching or supporting students. There is also an Open Morning on Monday 5th where colleagues can chat, have a coffee, pick up some literature and generally just find out about more about the range of support Student Services offers. For more information, see the website at: www.sheffield.ac.uk/ssd/week

Dee MacCormack

Book Review By Paul Rodgers

World War Z- An Oral History of the Zombie

War Max Brooks

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War is a 2006 post-apocalyptic horror novel by Max Brooks. Instead of presenting the story in a traditional narrative, World War Z is a collection of accounts told from the perspective of first-person anecdotes. Max Brookes took the inspiration of this type of story telling from the second world war oral histories that became popular in the 1980s. In case you where wondering, there hasn‟t been a zombie apocalypse (yet!) but this inventive book soon has you believing that these individual accounts are real survivors testimonies about real events. Brooks is a better writer than one would expect from the pulp fiction of zombie-lit. He manages to mimic the voices and establish credible personalities for many characters, whether they are male or female, African or European, civilian or military, heroic or villainous.

From the range of different experiences and interpretations we find out the route cause of the infestation from an isolated Chinese village, how the plague spread, helped along by global tourism and how tens of millions became infected to become a vast army of walking dead.

The novel allegorises the rise of the zombies to allsorts of contemporary issues including, racism, poverty and religious ideologies. This raised the novel above the usual horror book. However for those that like a rip-roaring yarn with plenty of horror, blood and gore this is also a book for you,

Packed full of memorable set-pieces it is no surprise that this novel is being turned into a Hollywood blockbuster starring Brad Pitt.

I thoroughly recommend this book not just for Zombie fans but also for those who enjoy a complex narrative told through the eyes of many characters.

What does this marque actually mean?

You may have noticed the marque above on the ELTC website over the years and wondered what it actually means and how it is achieved. The ELTC is 'accredited by the British Council for the teaching of English' and has been since 2003. This allows the ELTC to display the British Council marque on digital and print marketing, to guarantee the quality of our provision to students and to be represented by the British Council around the world. The accreditation process is undertaken under the 'Accreditation UK' scheme and requires an annual declaration, full inspection every 4 years and interim inspections or 'spot checks'. The scheme sets overreaching standards in fours areas of the ELTC's work; Management, Resources and Environment, Teaching and Learning and Welfare and Student Services. Recently, the ELTC's full inspection was carried out by a team of 3 inspectors lasting for 5 days. Before their arrival, the Centre had to prepare 3 stages of documentation over the preceding 4 months, including sending off hundreds of documents as evidence of the work the ELTC does and to demonstrate how we meet the scheme's criteria. As one of the largest ELT centres in the country, over 60 of the centre's teachers were observed teaching and over 30 people from inside the ELTC, and across the University, were interviewed about their work. As well as this, the premises, some key University buildings and students' homestay and residential accommodation were also visited. All the staff worked extremely hard to show the ELTC at its best, and to use the inspection to reflect on where to improve. Interestingly, the last time the ELTC was inspected in 2007, we were in 3 small buildings in Glossop Road, around 30 teachers were observed and only 2 inspectors came for 3 days, all of which demonstrates how much the ELTC has grown and developed since then. The inspectors have already given some positive verbal feedback, as well as some useful suggestions on where and how to develop even more, and we are looking forward to reading the full written report in the new year. Despite the stress and extra work of the inspection, it is something worthwhile and developmental for the ELTC, and we gain from the benefits of being accredited.

Will Nash, ELTC

This is a lovely and really easy recipe for Amaretto soaked fruit in mascarpone with

panatone, and it tastes delicious. When finished, the panatone stands about 10

inches high, so makes an impressive entrance at a dinner party, or any other kind of

party!

Method:

1) Mix the fruit and amaretto. Leave to soak for a minimum of 1 hour (preferably

3-4 hours).

2) Drain the fruit, reserving the amaretto liquid.

3) Mix the mascarpone cheese, icing sugar and fruit mixture.

4) Slice the panetone into slices of approximately one inch in thickness.

5) Sprinkle each of the panetone slices with a little of the amaretto liquid and

then spread each slice with apricot jam.

6) Layer up the panetone with the mascarpone cheese mixture. Put plenty on.

Finish off with a slice of plain panetone. Sprinkle the top with icing sugar.

7) Serve with any left over mascarpone cheese mixture.

This recipe can be made a day in advance and kept in the fridge. Enjoy!

Cheryl Hewitt, TPO

Ingredients: 1 x Panetone

115 g Apricot Jam

175 g Mixed Fruit

675 g Mascarpone Cheese

100 ml Amaretto

3 tbsp Icing Sugar

The Student Jobshop is run by the Careers Service in partnership with the Students Union and is located in the Students Union‟ next to SSID. The Jobshop team is made up of Careers Service staff and student helpers. Our main role is to advertise part-time jobs, year-long placements, summer internships and vacation work to students at the University. Vacancies are advertised via myVacancies, the Careers online vacancy service and via the Jobshop window. Students have automatic access to the system through the Careers tab in MUSE but can continue to use the system upon graduation by registering. Local, national and international employers send vacancies to us on a daily basis but we also do a lot of marketing particularly to local employers for part-time opportunities. This is done via mail outs, leaflet drops, network events, articles in newsletters and via intermediary organisations. It‟s not as straight forward as it sounds! We regularly liaise with employers about their opportunities to ensure they do not contravene current employment legislation or the Careers policy for advertising vacancies. Do you have a vacancy that would suit a student? Then please contact the Jobshop team on: 0114 222 0940 or email: studentjobshop@sheffield.ac.uk. Alternatively call into the Jobshop and speak to a member of the team. Here is a taster of some of the related projects/events that we offer: National Insurance Number Registration days - working with our contacts at Jobcentre Plus we arrange specific days for our international students to register for a national insurance number. Taste of Work - is literally just that! A new initiative supported by a number of University and Union departments and aimed at students with no or very little work experience, Taste of Work offers a chance to undertake a short (3-4 hour) placement in a real live work place. Students undertake relevant training and have the chance to observe how staff carry out their duties. Find out more at: http://www.shef.ac.uk/careers/students/tasteofwork Part-time Jobs and Volunteering fair - run in collaboration with Sheffield Volunteering, the Jobshop runs this fair in the Octagon at the start of each academic year. Exhibitors are companies advertising paid jobs and voluntary/community organisations offering volunteering activities and this year included Sky, PlusNet, Kenwood Hotel, Alpharooms and The Milestone restaurant to name but a few. Over 3000 students attended the fair this year with nearly 90% of these looking for part-time jobs! Skills for Work Certificate - a skills development programme to help students recognise the transferable skills that they are developing through their part-time jobs and other work experience activities. This involves students completing 50 hours of paid or voluntary work and 2 assessed pieces of work. Find out more at: http://www.shef.ac.uk/careers/students/advice/sfwc

Amy Gray, Jobshop Coordinator

http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/careers

APPLY WITHIN..... The Student Jobshop

and what we do

"I emailed you before I started university just over three years ago asking for some advice, since I'm trans and was scared about what I'd need to do and who I'd need to talk to about things. I'm currently offering some advice to other young trans people in the same position now who are in their first week or so of university and I remembered how brilliant you were just a few days or a week before I arrived in Sheffield. So I wanted to email and say a huge thank you for your help, since it would have been impossible to live the life I had at uni if it hadn't been for the change in accommodation, the quick change of all my documents which meant that my old name and history were protected and for being open for more support had I ever needed it. I honestly can't thank you enough; I can't even imagine how much more difficult it would have been for me if it wasn't for those alterations. I've now graduated a very happy man and had an amazing three years."

Thanks from a former student to Marie Boam of the Taught Programmes Office :

From the parent of a new student to the Student Development and Support Team:

Great to see that so much work has gone into providing useful information for parents, as well as new students, on this well-thought-out Website! As the father of a new 'fresher', as soon as I could see all the details concerning settling in, campus living, students and parents testimonials, and student life and the University in general, I knew my son had made the right choice out of the many offers he received. Reading through all the details, it certainly put my mind at rest, and I'm sure he'll soon settle in and enjoy the start of his new life at Sheffield with a vengeance!

Cheers to our very own Gemma Bennett for getting us all organised and making the move to the Arts Tower as painless as possible. We even got an Arts Tower move present! What a lucky team we are to have such a lovely lady.

A message of thanks from the International Office:

Success from the Engineering, Science and IT Fair on 1 November organised by the Careers Service Fairs Team, Michelle Dexter and Louise Cooper:

I have some great news! As a result of Tuesday's recruitment fair, we have hired two of the students who attended our stand. All the feedback from my colleagues who were on the stand with me said it was great and were really pleased with how the event went. Thanks Jenni b2net

Thanks to Kim Wright in the Careers Service Employer and Administration Team:

From beginning to end our experience at The University of Sheffield has been positive. The careers staff have been very conscientious in meeting our needs as an employer and as a visitor to the campus. We have found everyone we have dealt with friendly, helpful and keen to help us engage with the student body. We‟re very pleased with the service we have received from The University of Sheffield and look forward to working with you on future projects. Nathan at Futureboard Consulting working on behalf of BT

The Connection

Team

Let your section contact know if you have any articles, reviews or new ideas for the newsletter.

Cheryl Hewitt Student Administration Service c.hewitt@sheffield.ac.uk 21277

Gemma Bennett International Office gemma.bennett@sheffield.ac.uk 21010

Jason Slade English Language Teaching Centre j.slade@sheffield.ac.uk 21780

Joe Woolway Student Support & Guidance j.woolway@sheffield.ac.uk 21319

Paul Rodgers Student Support & Guidance paul.rodgers@shef.ac.uk 21375

Sandra France SSiD s.france@sheffield.ac.uk 21276

Sandra Ibbotson Director's Office s.ibbotson@sheffield.ac.uk 21051

Jo Bower Recruitment Support j.bower@sheffield.ac.uk 21239

Holly Biggins

UK/EU Recruitment and

Outreach h.biggins@sheffield.ac.uk 21027

Jayne Woodward

Disability & Dyslexia Support

Service j.l.woodward@sheffield.ac.uk 21312

Cornelia Percival University Health Service c.a.percival@sheffield.ac.uk 22125

Jayne Whitley Registry Service j.whitley@sheffield.ac.uk 21286

Becky Masaba-Kituyi Admissions Service R.Masaba@sheffield.ac.uk 25337

Alison Cox Counselling Service alison.cox@sheffield.ac.uk 24093

Kathryn Fey-Beatson Multi-Faith Chaplaincy k.m.fey-beatson@sheffield.ac.uk 28923

Gaynor Martin Careers Service g.l.martin@sheffield.ac.uk 20908

Amy Jeffries Academic Support a.e.jeffries@sheffield.ac.uk 21209