This report is a summary of the work your Activities Officer has done so far in their tenure. They will be answering questions and explaining their work during the upcoming Officer Accountability Panel. You can book your free space for the Officer Accountability Panel.
Christopher has used a RAG rating system to visually showcase his progress. You will see these indicated in the progress update.
Manifesto 1:
Improve students’ engagement and participation in societies through the planning and execution of a sports and societies carnival. The aims are below:
- Better student engagement in societies
- More revenue both for the societies, sports clubs and the SU
- Increase awareness of the multi-cultural and dynamic character of our societies (particularly the non-academic societies) and our sport clubs
- A fun day (carnival element)
- May lead to the creation more societies/sports in the future
- General awareness of the SU and our offer
Progress updates (Green)
First article promoting Societies was published on the 25th of October 2024 on the website, highlighting the benefits of joining or leading societies in Coventry University. Other promotional events and publications have been made on all our platforms (Website, Teams channels and Social Media accounts) promoting our societies and Sports clubs.
Attended society events like Psychology socials, Anime and Mange Games Night, Efe warri boy comedy show in collaboration with the Nigerian society, Chess society, Rock Music Games Night, BUCS volleyball men’s game, BUCS women Basketball game, BUCS Men 1&2 Basketball game.
Booked and participated in a number of pop-up stands promoting Societies and Sports clubs.
Planning for the Carnival began in November 2024.
- Carnival to be an element of the Activities fair (Activities fair scheduled for the 22nd of Jan 2025 11am - 3pm), Carnival to hold between 12:30pm - 1:30pm.
- Mapped out route (Starting from the hub – University square – back to the hub)
- Sign up process (with 23 student groups signing up - 8 participated)
Carnival objectives Met (Showcase our student groups, Increase membership, Funday for participants) – Photography taken in the Carnival have been sent to participating student groups for their use and promotion.
Students, Societies & Sports Clubs, Officers and Staff are all happy with the event.
Manifesto 2:
Student trips. The aims are below:
- Travelling and relaxation
- Students networking
- Giving students the opportunity to experience other cities and campuses
- A wholesome fun learning experience
Progress updates (Green)
- Worked with the Commercial services and Marketing and Comms to plan, advertise and communicate 2 students’ trips.
- The first being the IKEA Nottingham Shopping trip held on the 30th of September 2024 from 12:30 - 6pm and the Second being the Oxford trip held on the 6th of October 2024 from 7:30am - 7pm.
- The IKEA Trip was a fun shopping trip experience that students enjoyed, although the trip was completely sold out, we had 19 students in attendance with 2 FTOs ie 21 in total. We shopped for a couple of hours after which we were all given goody bags. While the Oxford trip had an attendance of a 100% with 52 students in attendance excluding the Full-time officers. Feedback from thee Oxford trip is that Students really enjoyed it and are looking forward to more trips in future.
- We planned and promoted a Christmas students’ trip, but cancelled due to low signups.
Manifesto 3:
Promote students’ participation in extracurricular activities/sports & volunteering opportunities. The aims are below:
- Employability
- Better engagement
- More revenue for the SU & sports societies from new signups and registrations
- Relaxation & networking
- Fun
- Improve mental health and wellbeing
- Create more sport societies
Progress updates (Green)
- Hosted a pop-up stand in Scarborough during the September 2024 welcome week promoting extracurricular opportunities. Hosted a pop-up stand in CU Coventry (Mile line) during the January 2025 welcome week promoting societies and sports. Hosted a stall in the Volunteering fair as well, promoting Societies and Sports.
- I Encouraged Part-Time Officers at the Union Affairs Committee meeting held on the 29th of August 2024 to work with their staff leads in assessing the SU extracurricular equipment that need repairs, replacement or that need to be purchased based on Students' feedback. A follow-up on this will lead to The purchase and provision of pool tables at Coventry University London Campus(CULC) and CU Mile lane campus.
- Promoted extracurricular activities to all students through physical society meetings, sports events or activities and in person sessions.
- Planned, communicated and will be hosting VARSITY 2025 with the collaboration of the Sports department and Warwick University. Varsity is an annual sporting event between Coventry University Sports and Warwick University Sports that features a wide range of both competitive and noncompetitive sports. Varsity to take place on the 1st of March 2025.
- I assisted with the planning and implementation of the transfer of the Sports facilities from Coventry University to Your SU. This transfer will ensure more access to these facilities to all students.
- I led and hosted a Christmas themed workout session on the 6th of December 2024 with a 17 students’ attendance, as part of the officers’ monthly wellbeing events.
- I’ll be hosting a movie night on the 28th of February as part of the officers’ monthly event, All to encourage the participation of extracurricular activities while promoting sports, societies and volunteering opportunities.
Manifesto 4:
Grand awards. The aims are below:
- Better engagements
- A more student fun rewarding system
- Fun society and sports award
Progress updates (Green)
For the awards, I’ll be working with the activities team and will give updates when planning and preparations for awards begin. The 2024/2025 awards will have been scheduled for the week of 24th of March 2025.
Other Duties and Activities
Microwaves - I led the officer team on a Microwaves on Campus campaign. There’s been series of feedback from students on the need for microwaves in our Coventry Main campus as well as in our CU Scarborough campus.
We met with Douglas Howat (Dean of Students Coventry University Group) on the 3rd of February 2025 to discuss the provision of microwaves on campus. The following were assured from the meeting:
- Coventry Main Campus – Microwaves will be provided soon once the details around managing them are finalized.
- Scarborough Campus – Further discussions will take place to determine the best approach.
NUS “No More Guarantor’s Campaign” - I joined and partook in the NUS “No More Guarantor’s Campaign” where I met with Zarah Sultana, member of Parliament representing Coventry South to discuss the campaign. We discussed both the challenge of obtaining Guarantors faced by students and the fact that the current Renter’s Right Bill only mentioned summer eviction periods for taking possession of properties which doesn’t account for January and May Starters.