The Accommodation services aims to meet students’ requirements through the allocation of their campus accommodation or by facilitating access to the private sector and providing support to students regarding residential matters.
Current students can be referred to the Accommodation pages on the website where they can:
- apply for campus accommodation online (subject to availability)
- access Studentpad where students can search for rooms and properties available in the local area or use the message board to talk to other students
- Find details of local letting agents and short stay options
The Accommodation Service also offers pastoral care to students in university managed accommodation. Typical queries received in the Accommodation Office include:
- Homesickness
- Unhappy with their choice of accommodation
- Wants to leave accommodation
- Maintenance issues in halls
- Not getting on with housemates/room sharer
- Can’t afford to pay rent/accommodation fees
- Help with finding accommodation over Christmas/summer break (particularly Care Leavers)
- Issues with landlord
- Concerns about other students in halls
The Accommodation Service will liaise with other services, including Wellbeing, Student Funding, Registry, Academic Depts. etc., where appropriate, to ensure our students receive maximum support and have a positive student experience.
The Accommodation Service can be contacted by emailing accommodation@stmarys.ac.uk or by calling 020 8240 4034.
The Student Funding Service offers advice and guidance on all aspects of student funding. The Service is situated in the Student Services Centre and encourages students to call in to discuss any queries they may have in relation to their finances. The Student Funding Service can be contacted by emailing studentfundingservice@stmarys.ac.uk or by calling 020 8240 2389.
Managing on a budget is an important part of being a student. Many students underestimate how much it costs and more students, especially in London, are opting to stay at home and travel.
Our experienced staff are on hand to advise about any money-related issues, including managing money and financial hardship. They offer one-to-one appointments as well as drop-ins, email and telephone information and advice.
Students can find out more information on money management, including advice on gambling, gaming and money scams by visiting the Student Funding webpages.
The Service is responsible for administering the University Hardship Fund that can help students who are in severe financial hardship. The funds can be distributed as a grant, which does not have to be repaid, or a loan where students are struggling financially due to their student loans/grant payments being delayed at the start of term. These loans are then repaid when the student is in receipt of their funding. The Fund cannot help every application received and priority is given to the following groups of students:
- Students with children (especially lone parents)
- Mature students who have existing financial commitments
- Disabled students (especially where the DSA is unable to meet particular costs)
- Care Leavers and Care Experienced Students
- Estranged students
- Students from Foyers or who are homeless
- Final year students
Students can make an application and find out more information on the fund online.
Students need to make their application to Student Finance for their loans and grants well in advance of coming to University and the Student Funding Service gives advice on:
- How and when to make the application
- Evidence that will need to be provided with the application
- Student finance entitlement
- Support with Compelling Personal Reason (CPR) applications when a student is requesting an additional year of funding
- Student finance regulations
- Migrant Worker applications
With the permission of the student, we can liaise with Student Finance, where there is a problem in processing the application.
The St Mary’s Cares package of support recognises that vulnerable adults, care leavers, care experienced and estranged students face a number of challenges on the path to university, and we are strongly committed to supporting them to get the most out of their course and university experience.
Students who declare care leaver or care experienced status on their UCAS application are contacted by the designated contact and invited for a Summer pre-entry meeting to discuss their situation and how best we can support them, making sure they are accessing all support available to them. Those who are unable to declare, or wish to discuss their situation and what support may be available can email studentfundingservice@stmarys.ac.uk for further information.
The designated contact for all care leavers, care experienced and estranged students provides an avenue of continuous, stable support that these students can go to throughout their time at St Mary’s and beyond.
The Wellbeing Service can be contacted by emailing wellbeing@stmarys.ac.uk or by calling 020 8240 4353.
Counselling offers the opportunity for students to privately explore personal issues with someone who has no other role in their lives. Many students find that talking things over with a professionally qualified practitioner can offer a new perspective. All our counsellors are BACP qualified.
Our services include:
- One-to-one short-term Counselling or Wellbeing Practitioner sessions
- Sessions are delivered either face-to face, telephone or via zoom - whichever the student prefers
Wellbeing Practitioners (pastoral support)
All staff within our Student Services team are trained as wellbeing practitioners to deliver pastoral care, support, advice and guidance to our students. This can be for one off drop-in or limited booked appointments.
Students present to the counselling service with wide-ranging issues that cause distress or difficulty or have an impact on the student’s normal work, study or personal life such as:
- Academic Stress/concerns
- Relationships or friendships
- Family issues
- Bereavement
- Anxiety or stress
- Depression
- Sexuality
- Sleeplessness
- Substance misuse
- Eating problems
- Bullying and/or Harassment
- Abuse ( Sexual/Racial/Hate Crime)
Information on making an appointment can be found online.
The University aims to provide an inclusive teaching and learning environment for all students, including individuals with specific learning differences (such as dyslexia, ADHD, dyspraxia), mental health conditions, medical conditions and impairments or a temporary disability, such as injury.
Disability and Mental Health Advisors
We encourage students to disclose their disability or additional needs at the earliest opportunity (on their UCAS application), so that reasonable adjustments can be discussed and appropriate arrangements agreed. However, students can disclose at any time during their studies and support will be put in place pending supporting evidence.
Where appropriate, we will offer the student:
- A free specific learning differences (SpLD) or autism screening to determine whether students may have a SpLD or autism that should be further investigated
- A referral and subsidised SpLD assessment
- Support with applications for Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) to fund specialist support
- Needs assessments for DSA - The assessment which identifies suitable DSA support and recommends reasonable adjustments
- A Learning Support Form (LSF) that communicates the impact of a student’s disability and recommended reasonable adjustments for study (RAs)
- Accommodation adjustments (in Halls)
Students who refer to the service will have a 1:1 private and confidential meeting with one of our Disability or Mental health Advisors to discuss their individual support needs. In this meeting the Disability Advisor will offer appropriate reasonable adjustments and liaise with the relevant programme faculty and or service to ensure that students are not disadvantaged as a result of disability, mental health condition, specific learning difference, medical condition or temporary disability. The types of reasonable adjustments we provide are tailored to the students’ individual needs.
Some of the reasonable adjustments offered are:
- Exam concessions (extra time, use of a computer, smaller room or use of assistive software)
- Accessible and suitable room in halls
- Lecture slides made available online in advance of lectures
- Support with taking notes
- Library support (designated member of staff, book fetching, extended library loans)
- Individualised plans for students on placements
For more information please see our webpages.
Students in receipt of DSA will be allocated a qualified specialist tutor who will give one-to-one tutorials for the recommended number of hours. Study Skills support is available to students who have autism or a SpLD such as:
- Dyslexia
- Dyspraxia
- Dyscalculia
- ADHD
Study Skills support is different from other academic support. The Specialist Study Skills Tutor will tailor the individual sessions to meet the student’s individual needs by considering the following:
- How they study, and trying out different strategies
- Help to motivate them in their studies
- Tutorials will be well structured, allowing the students to set goals for their progress
- Sessions will be manageable and taught at the student pace
- Strategies will be repeated where necessary
Students can register with the Wellbeing Service (Disability & Dyslexia) at any time during studies, who will offer guidance on how to apply for DSA which funds study skills support.
Areas in which specialist tutorials will help:
- Reading, note taking and research skills
- Assignment writing for different types of academic assignment: planning, structure, writing style, referencing and proof-reading strategies
- Spelling strategies
- Grammar and vocabulary
- Exam and revision strategies
- Memory techniques
Students can contact the Student Wellbeing Service and complete a request form here to book their sessions and they can specify when they are available. The Student Wellbeing Service will also try and contact the students to ask them to complete the form and arrange an appointment.
The Mental Health Advisors support students who have a possible or actual mental health diagnosis, and/or may experience emotional or psychological distress/crisis or personal difficulties during their time at university.
The Mental Health Advisors can work as a point of contact for students for the duration of their studies as part of a larger support network. This service can provide mental health support for students, including practical advice to support their mental health or any crises they are involved with at that time.
In addition, our Mental Health Advisors can signpost or refer students to relevant networks within the university and also to therapeutic and medical services in their local area.
The Mental Health Advice Service can work collaboratively with students to encourage them to consider their rights, and help them think about any other additional resources which may be available.
The Mental Health Advisors will:
- Discuss a student’s mental health and check in with them around their wellbeing
- Support students to create a plan to help address their mental health needs
- Possibly support students throughout their time at St Mary’s, if mental health concerns warrant this approach
- Work with colleagues in the University to promote the wellbeing of students and to support the completion of their degree
- Support the connection of students with primary and secondary services, including GPs, Mental Health professionals and Eating Disorder Specialists - either within the student's home town or with the Community Teams who operate within the University vicinity
- Help students apply for Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA)
Students with either a mental health condition or autism can have regular sessions with a specialist mentor, funded through Disabled Students Allowance (DSA).
Mentoring aims to provide support to you to self-manage your condition in order to feel confident in your studies, according to goals that you choose. Mentors can help you develop and maintain strategies for areas of your academic studies that mental health may be impacting on, such as organisation and prioritisation, time management, avoidance, communication, self-confidence, self-esteem, concentration, stress management and anger management.
Mentors will support you to set realistic expectations for yourself, to help you break down barriers to your success and therefore providing you with more confidence to achieve your academic and personal goals.
Mentors can also help with supporting you in relation to your diagnosis, signposting you to relevant additional support and working with you and staff in the university to make reasonable adjustments to remove any barriers to your studies.
Mentors practise in an inclusive way. Our specialist autism mentors will be guided by your own goals, and will look to affirm you in your own identity and experience. In this sense mentoring is a partnership where you can rely on an expert’s knowledge to seek advice, self-understanding, and personal growth.
We have assistive technology available and training on how to use this. The main objective of the Assistive Technology Trainer is to provide support and assistance to students who have been awarded this through their DSA.
Assistive Technology (AT) is any item, piece of equipment, software program or product system that is used to increase, maintain or improve access to digital information. All members of the St Mary's community can benefit from using assistive technology, but this is often something that is awarded to students who have disabilities as a reasonable adjustment. AT can support those who have challenges with speaking, typing, writing, remembering, seeing, hearing, learning, mobility and dexterity, and others.
Who benefits from having Assistive Technology?
- Students who have received DSA AT approved funding
- International Students who have accessed the Wellbeing Service
- Students who may have received AT training in the past and all students who would like to enhance their learning
- Staff members, to use too and encourage awareness of support available
There is training available on:
- Mind mapping software
- Literacy tool bars and screen readers
- Text to speech software
- Note taking software
- Magnification software
The 1-2-1 training we provide will help students get to know how to use the technology, and allow them to practise their new skills correctly with supervision and support
Students in receipt of the DSA for AT support will be contacted by the Wellbeing Service to make arrangements for the support to be put in place. Students can also contact the Wellbeing Service and complete a request form to book their sessions and they can specify when they are available.
Assistive technology Room (ATR)
The ATR is situated on the ground floor of the Library on the main campus. Access to this room is restricted to students who have registered with the Student Wellbeing Services and can be used by students who have their own equipment or who are not eligible for Assistive Technology (AT) funding and require the use of equipment.
The ATR provides a quiet working area for students along with additional AT equipment and networked PCs as well as a range of equipment for students to borrow.