Ellen's story

5 top tips for moving to student accommodation

Author - Ellen, Primary Education

For my first year at University, I moved into student accommodation on the de Havilland Campus. Here are my top tips for moving away from home!

Batch Cook Meals
Get yourself a student cookbook - I bought a copy of 'Nosh for students' and it really helped me cook healthy and tasty meals cheaply. Cooking meals and putting them in the freezer is really helpful as it means you only have to heat them up in the evenings, something you will appreciate if you have had lectures/placement all day!

Stay in Contact
When moving to university, it is so important to make friends - whether that is through your accommodation, your course or societies. Don't forget to stay connected with your friends and family back at home - chances are they are missing you too! Facetime and Zoom will continue to be your best friend while you are studying away, especially in the world we live in now.

Sharing Chores
It will be your own responsibility to keep your room and en-suite (if your accommodation has one) clean and tidy. However, communal areas such as the kitchen and shared living areas will need to be cleaned by all the flat mates. Make sure that you share the chores that need to be completed. It is good to all have set jobs to do or have a rota, so not all the work is left to one person. The shared living spaces are checked every week so make sure they are kept clean!

Better to over pack than under!
Before you move in, try and get in contact (through social media groups) with your new flatmates so you don't buy duplicates of some items. I found that the best thing to do is follow checklists about what to take to university - making sure that you do not forget anything essential! There are lots of shops around Hatfield (Poundland, B&M and Asda) so you can purchase anything you may have forgotten!

Studying
University accommodation can, at times, be quite noisy with lots of people living there - especially the routine fire alarms! Use areas such as the Learning Resources Centre (LRC) and the Enterprise Hub to study. I found this really useful this year as all my studying was done online. I would often study in the LRC and then come back to my room to relax, and have time away from work and academic commitments.

Do not hesitate to contact me if you have any other questions about living on campus!

My week at a glance

Author - Ellen, Primary Education

Life as a student teacher is very busy! My course is amazing and I have gotten involved in many extra-curricular activities through the University too which always means I have something to do. This is my week at a glance:

I am currently on placement in a primary school, working Monday to Wednesday which is making the first part of the week fly by! I am absolutely loving my placement, the school I am in are really supportive and working with the children is so rewarding.

This week, all the children came back to school for the first time since December so on Monday, they spent a lot of the day doing 'settling back into school' activities such as looking at the changes in school and discussing what they enjoyed about home learning. They also did some water colour painting, Guided Reading and made Mother's day cards. When I got home from placement, I did some lesson planning and a fitness class though the Hertssquad Active Students. Cooked some dinner and went to the Education Societies "Women in Science" event which was so interesting, especially as it was International Women's Day. I always make sure I have some downtime before bed, watching TV and calling family at home.

The children had a more structured day while I was at placement on Tuesday. They did spellings, English and Maths in the morning. I had PPA in the afternoon - meaning I could do some lesson planning. When I got back to accommodation, I did a couple of Active Students classes and had dinner with my flat mates. After, I completed some placement preparation and had a call with my fellow student reps for the BEd course to discuss our pre-programme committee meeting tomorrow.

Wednesday is the last day of the week for placement and I taught two assessed lessons. The children had English, Maths and Guided Reading in the morning, followed by Topic in the afternoon. I met with my class teacher to discuss my progress this week and targets for next week. The pre-programme committee meeting started when I got home, we discussed all the positives and improvements we have for the BEd course. Later, I did some cleaning and then attended a Primary Teacher Geography seminar for an hour, looking at the use of atlases in the classroom.

On Thursdays, we have university lectures and seminars for most of the day. Currently, we're studying the Primary foundation subjects and our personal learning development. I had a catch up with family, did some catch up work and relaxed for the remainder on the evening.

Today has also been pretty busy! Went to a virtual Active Students Zumba class this morning, followed by a lecture. This afternoon, I have been starting one of my assignments for this semester and doing some errands. This evening, I plan to study, do another fitness class, have a Zoom call with some of my friends and watch some TV.

Due to the pandemic, there isn't much I currently do at the weekends. I normally catch up with family and friends, do some fitness classes, cleaning and cooking, as well as the weekly shop. I find that getting outside for either a run or a walk really helps break up the studying too!

Being a student teacher is hard work but honestly very rewarding. Lots to do to keep you busy but enough down time to do the things you enjoy too! I think it's really important to make a to-do list to keep track of everything you need to do, however small it is. Make sure you plan week by week and also give yourself enough down time so you don't burn yourself out!

Top 5 learning facilities for BEd Primary Education

Author - Ellen, Primary Education

Hello! My name is Ellen, and I am a third year BEd Primary Education with QTS student at Herts! I absolutely love my course and will be thrilled to be a qualified teacher at the end of the academic year! Throughout my time on this course, I have used lots of different education learning facilities while at both university and on placement to help me with my course. I am going to tell you about my Top 5 and how they have benefitted me!

1. LRC

The LRC is our University library, with one on both College Lane and de Havilland campuses. As my course is based on De Havilland campus, all my books are based there. However, if you live on College Lane, you can reserve books and have them sent to this campus. One positive of lockdown is that a lot of university books have been changed into e-books, meaning you can access them from wherever you are! The Education section of the LRC does not just have textbooks to help with the primary education course, but also lots of children's books! It is full of picture books, large books and novels! The University allows you to take these into school and use them to teach while on placement. It is a brilliant resource to have available and saves on buying lots of children's books!

2. Student Success and Engagement Team (SSET)

The SSET team are amazing people that can help students enhance their academic skills, whichever course you choose to study in the School. They are there to help students build their confidence, improve motivation, learn new organisation strategies and enhance reading and writing skills.

The team overall provides academic study skills advice, wellbeing support and information, access to Study Skills workshops, School events and other opportunities to get involved with the School and wider University community at Herts.

3. SCOs

School Community Organisers (SCOs) are paid, student leadership positions, appointed to enhance the community of students and staff within each School. They organise social events, collaborate with Student Reps and Elected Officers, and represent students’ interests to both the Students’ Union and University as senior Student Leaders. I am currently an SCO for the school that was formerly known as the School of Social Sciences, Humanities, and Education. I took on this role as I wanted to give back and help students, just like previous SCOs had helped me. The school currently has six SCOs, and they are brilliant people to contact if you need support or have concerns throughout your time studying at Herts.

4. Education Society

The University of Hertfordshire Education Society is for anyone with an interest in education and teaching. Whether you're studying an education degree, training to be a teacher, or just have a passion for teaching and learning, everyone is welcome to join. The society is a great place to meet others with similar interests, and they aim to host several events throughout the year. Last year, I was the secretary of the society and this year, I am the treasurer. The society allows a community to be created where students feel that they are a part of something, and encourage new friendships to form. They aim to encourage a healthy work-life balance to society members, through both social and educational events. This society really benefitted me in my first year at university, especially being in lockdown, as it allowed me to meet new people and get support from individuals who understand the highs and lows of studying education. This is why I have taken on the role as a committee member for the last two years to provide that support to other students.

5. Staff working on the Primary Education course

The staff working on the BEd course are absolutely brilliant and are the most supportive team. They are there to not only support you academically, but also with pastoral care. They are always only an email away if you have any questions and will often organise a meeting with you if you are needing more support. I have frequently had Zoom calls with lecturers after receiving feedback from assignments to go through in more detail what went well and what to improve the next time for an assignment.

If you have any more questions about my course – please don't hesitate to message me!