Residential Life

The Residential Life team is here to make this transition more gratifying and easier for you, provide you with opportunities to get to know your fellow residents and support you in your academic and personal journey through university. We can offer some guidance, a listening ear if you feel like you’d like to talk to someone, and we can point you in the right direction if you need some additional help.

The Warden's Team in your hall

Each Intercollegiate Hall has a dedicated team that consists of a Warden and Resident Advisors (RAs).

The Warden is a resident member of staff who looks after wellbeing, pastoral and conduct matters in their hall as well as the community building. They are available in the hall, mostly during evenings and weekends. The Warden has a lot of experience working with students in supporting them during their time in the hall. Our wardens are trained in emergency first aid, mental health first aid, eating disorder awareness, and suicide prevention to name a few.

The Warden is supported by a team of Resident Advisors (RAs). RAs are usually either postgraduate students or students in their final year of university and they live in the hall with you. You’ll get to know them in the first few weeks of moving into your hall during the welcome programme of events; please make sure you come to some of them as you never know when you’ll need their support so it’s good to know who your RAs are. The RAs also go through an intensive training programme in order to be better prepared to deal with some situations that may arise during the year ahead.

What we do

We are here to help make your stay in the hall as enjoyable as possible. Our main mission is for you to have an opportunity to meet your fellow hallmates and form supportive friendships with them. In the first few weeks after moving in, there will be a lot of events and socials organised by the Warden's Team so please make sure you come to some of them.

We want you to feel at home, but you need to be mindful of the fact that you are sharing this space with other students, some of them going through exams and working on their assignments – every single one of them has the right to enjoy the space where they live. Therefore, it is important to agree on some basic rules and the team is here to make sure that they are respected, especially rules relating to noise, guests and fire safety - we take them very seriously and we expect you will too.

There will also be times when you might feel like you need a bit of extra help, whether it is because you’re going through a stressful time at uni or maybe you have some personal problems – we’re here to listen to you so come and talk to us.

Have a look at the Support to Reside Policy & Procedure in the Useful Documents to better understand the level of support on offer at the Intercollegiate Halls of Residence.

When to contact the Warden's Team

The Warden’s Team is here to be your first point of contact if you have any questions about the hall, university life, if you’re struggling with coursework or if you would simply like to talk to someone about anything else.

Remember that RAs have gone through the experience of transitioning between home and university life so they are well placed to offer you their perspective on how to deal with the most common problems and can share their journey with you. The same relates to time management and exam stress – it’s good to talk about it with someone who knows what you’re experiencing because they have gone through it themselves, they may also give you some tips and just take your mind off it for a bit.

Living in halls is a great experience, but there may be times when you don’t get along with your neighbour or you’re bothered by noise – the RAs are here to make sure that people stick to the rules and they can help to manage situations of conflict.

If you experience more serious difficulties, the RAs can advise you on where you can get professional help. We are not counsellors, but there are resources that you can use during your time at uni and your RA will be happy to let you know what they are, whether these are Support Services at your university or various helplines, GP or the NHS.

How to contact the team

If your hall has a reception, you can contact an RA by talking to the receptionist (in person or you can call them). RAs are on duty every night from 18:00 until 8:00 in the morning on weekdays and all day at weekends and on bank holidays.

If you live in a place that doesn’t have a reception (e.g. Handel Mansions), have a look at the notice board for info on how to get in touch with your Resident Advisors.

You can also get in touch with your warden. You can find their email address in part 2 of the Resident Handbook. Wardens aim to reply to most emails within 48 hours.

If you feel like you need to talk to someone during the day, when RAs are not on duty, come to see your Hall Management team. Our hall managers and their assistants have years of experience working with students and are always willing to listen and point you in the right direction. They go through a lot of training as well and can support you in a time of need, whether it is by having a chat or by involving other services that will be able to best support you when you need it.

Anonymous Harassment Reporting

Making an anonymous report informs the University that something has happened. This will not instigate a formal process or complaint, but it does allow us to better understand the prevalence of issues within our community. We may also be able to take general safety action based on patterns of incidents reported.

For more information, please have a look at our Reporting & Investigating Harassment or Abuse Procedure in Useful Document.