As an open and friendly College, we want everyone to feel free to ask for advice at any time.
Welfare concerns
Our student Welfare Reps organise welfare events and help with your welfare concerns.
For general help or advice, you can also consult the Principal, the Vice-Principal, the Senior Tutor, the Dean, the Chaplain, the Academic Registrar or any member of the Senior Common Room.
If you are going to be studying without the support or approval of a family network, there is specialist help available.
Personal Tutors and College Advisers
As an undergraduate, you’re allocated a Personal Tutor, or if you’re a graduate student, you’ll have a College Adviser. You can contact them with any problems, academic or personal.
College Officers
As well as your Personal Tutor or College Adviser, you can also consult any member of the Senior Common Room, especially the Senior Tutor, the Dean, the Chaplain, or the Academic Registrar. Either telephone, email, or leave a note in the staff pigeon-holes at the Lodge to arrange a meeting.
The Dean and Junior Deans
The Dean and Junior Deans are available in College to discuss welfare issues. The Junior Deans take responsibility for welfare issues in the evenings and at weekends during term. For how to contact them, see the Decanal Notice Board in the South Foyer.
Welfare Officer
We also have a Welfare Officer who provides a confidential and friendly support service. Contact the Welfare Officer, no matter how small your concern, available for three hours every weekday in Weeks 0-9.
College Counsellor
The College Counsellor is available by appointment for two sessions a week in weeks 0-9.
University Counselling Service
You’ll find the University’s Counselling Service on the University website. This site also offers useful time-management and study skills advice and includes self-help materials.
Self help
You’ll also find a range of self-help materials in our library.
Emergencies
For emergency assistance from College staff and College first aiders, contact the Porters' Lodge (Tel. 01865 276884).
Inform the Porters' Lodge as soon as possible of any emergency on college property, and be sure to inform them if you have alerted the emergency services.
Disability Support
You may disclose a mental or physical disability at any time at Oxford, but please come to us as soon as possible so that we can help you to get the support you need.
The Domestic Bursar, the Head Chef, and the Head of Estates are happy to provide practical advice on domestic matters, meals or the adaptation of facilities in student rooms.
It’s also helpful to make contact with our Disability Lead Professor Lorna Smith. We also have a Disability Fellow, Rebekah Unwin, who is the Academic Registrar and the Disability Coordinator at the College.
The University of Oxford has a Common Framework Statement which sets out the guiding principles that underpin the procedures for supporting disabled students.
Accessibility
We welcome all students with a disability, both undergraduate and graduate, and we are working to improve access throughout the College. There is also an Oxford University-wide Access Guide.
We have many rooms specially adapted for disabled students. First year undergraduate students have designated rooms in Wolfson Building with an adapted shared bathroom, and for other undergraduate students there are adapted rooms with en-suite bathrooms in Christina Barratt Building and the Anniversary Building. Graduate student-accessible rooms are located in 205 Cowley Road.
Wheelchair access to the College is via the main entrance. In the library, there is accessible teaching space and access via a lift with a wheelchair ramp under construction.
Arrangements for examinations
If you have a long-term disability, we can request adjustments for your examinations. Please give the Academic Office plenty of notice so we can be sure arrangements are in place.
The University of Oxford’s Common Framework Statement sets out principles underpinning our procedures for supporting disabled students. Disability support is a collaborative approach including the DAS, the College and your department. The College takes the lead for maintaining oversight of disability arrangements for undergraduates while for graduates that is managed by the department/faculty.
Medical Help
Our Doctor is available once a week in term-time and our Nurse is on-site every weekday in term-time in Wolfson Building Room G04 or online. To make an appointment, email the Nurse. Students can also use the GP surgery on Banbury Road.
Information about times and other medical services is in the Student Handbook.
Transgender and Gender Identity
We have a long history of championing gender equality and inclusivity.
We have an annual Gender Equality Festival, and many of the College’s facilities are suited to transgender students, such as gender-neutral toilets and bathrooms in most buildings.
If you’re a transgender student, we’re committed to supporting you through all aspects of your time at Oxford – academic, social and medical - and the College has adopted the University’s Transgender Guidance and Policy.
For support with trans-related issues, including administrative, mental health or medical matters, contact the Senior Tutor, who will arrange a meeting with you to discuss your needs, including any points on the University’s checklist for supporting students who are trans/transitioning.
With your permission, the Senior Tutor will inform everyone who needs to know about any changes. We appreciate that everyone is different, and changes can be made in stages or all at once.
Please raise any relevant concerns with us, such as worries about privacy with your family, your chosen name and pronouns, or about visas if you are an international student.
If you need time away from your studies for medical reasons, please discuss this with us.
You can also talk to the Dean, Junior Deans, Welfare Officer, JCR and MCR Welfare and LGBTQ Officers, and Peer Supporters or a counsellor from the University’s Counselling Service who is trained in trans-related issues (including training from Gendered Intelligence).
Our College doctors have experience working with people who are trans/transitioning.
There is more information about university-wide policy and welfare provision for students who want to transition available from the University’s LGBTQ Society which has a Trans Officer, who can be approached for outside-college support from trans students for trans students.
Harassment
Harassment is unacceptable, and we will protect students, staff and anyone else from any form of harassment that might inhibit them from pursuing their work or studies, or from making proper use of university facilities. We will take any complaint of harassment seriously.
We have three harassment advisors who can provide counselling and advice: Nicky Charles (Accommodation Officer), Kerstin Hoge (Linguistics Fellow) and Sarah Norman (Senior Tutor).
For information about making a report of harassment and the College's Code of Practice Relating to Harassment, see the Student Handbook.
Health and Welfare Contacts
Please feel free to contact us to ask for help or advice at any time.
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