The Lowdown - Christmas Edition

December 2020

THE LOWDOWN

Welcome to the Christmas edition of

THE LOWDOWN Hello everyone, Since being elected into our posts at the start of term, the Students’ Association has been working hard on a wide range of projects and activities.

We are very pleased that we have managed to engage successfully with many of you, both online and in person under safe physical distancing measures, and we hope to continue this next term.

The team has had the opportunity to understand in more detail how you have been handling the new blended mode of learning. This has offered us the chance to provide extra support and guidance to anyone needing it.

In this issue, we will update you on what the team has been working on and also offer more information on who the best people are to contact if you need any help.

Remember we are always here to help! Follow us on our social channels, @NCLStudentVoice, or email studentvoice@nclan.ac.uk.

Nclsa

Interested in being part of the

STUDENT MAGAZINE EDITORIAL TEAM? We are excited to announce that we are looking for students who are interested in being part of our editorial team for the student magazine.

With each edition, we aim to provide key information and updates that are relevant to college life - but what could be more relevant than updates from our very own students!

Whether you are a good writer, have creative ideas or would just like to share material or experiences with your fellow students, we would love to have you on board!

If you are interested, or would like more information about what being part of the team would involve, please get in touch with us via studentvoice@nclan.ac.uk and we will be happy to share more details.

British

SIGN LANUAGE

To ensure that the Students’ Association continues to be accessible to all students, we have recently enrolled in the Introduction to British Sign Language course offered by the College.

This course takes place every Thursday afternoon and we hope to not only learn more about BSL for our own use but also for promoting to other students.

The team’s mission is to be able to sign a song in relation to raising awareness of BSL and aim to accomplish this by the end of the college year – so wish us luck!

If anyone is interested in finding out more about the College’s BSL courses, feel free to drop us a message!

MYNCL

Our student app MyDay has now changed to MYNCL, but the experience for students will remain the same. It is still a simple, personalised and efficient way for you to keep up to date with college life.

The look and feel of the new app is very similar to MyDay, but you will need to download the new MYNCL app as follows: • Visit the App Store or Google Play • Search for ‘New College Lanarkshire’ and download the app • Log in with your student email (example 00000000@my.nclan.ac.uk) and password • If you are using the app for the first time, your password will be your date of birth (DDMMYYYY) • When you download the new app, click on your emails and click ‘authorise’ to allow the new app to load up your emails • Remember to delete the old MyDay app from your phone • The new weblink has been updated on the college website, but remember to update any favourites or shortcuts you may have to https://nclan.myday.cloud/

Festive Fun

Nothing says it’s Christmas time like some festive competitions! This year, since we can’t organise some of our usual Christmas activities on campus, we thought we would bring you some online festive fun instead!

For the chance to win one of nine £30 ‘Love 2 Shop’ vouchers, all you have to do is enter into one, two or all of our competitions listed below! (The more you enter, the better chance you have of winning!)

Christmas Jumper Competition

Take a picture in your favourite Christmas jumper or even decorate an old jumper into a Christmas one. Extra points for creativity!

Christmas Hair & Make-up Competition

Come up with your most creative festive looks this year by showing your skills and spreading some Christmas cheer.

Christmas Decorations Competition

Create some Christmas decorations and send us in your snaps… the ideas are endless! Some examples could be a gingerbread house, tree decorations or a festive wreath.

All entries need to be submitted by Friday 18th December to studentvoice@nclan.ac.uk and the winners will be announced on Monday 21st December.

Morning Minds

Morning Minds is a new online coffee morning that our Student President Kathleen-Anne has created, as part of the NCLSA’s mental health and wellbeing initiative.

The coffee morning takes place fortnightly on a Friday at 11am and the aim of the event is to allow students to have a casual online chat with the Students’ Association on topics that will vary with each session.

The first event took place on Friday 16th October and a good number of students joined in. The team gained some valuable feedback about the students’ experiences so far during the current pandemic which offered us the chance to understand better what support you need right now.

Each event will have a particular theme and a nominated guest speaker who will open a discussion and can answer any questions during the first half hour. The next half hour will involve general discussions and some fun activities which will hopefully offer you the chance to get to know one another and build positive connections.

If you are interested in joining in on this event, all you have to do is keep an eye on your inbox for the joining emails. We have also created a new closed Facebook group that you can join so all you have to do is drop us a message and we can invite you in.

Now more than ever it is important for students to know that they are not alone during this difficult time. More of us will be spending a lot of time at home and many of

our regular social activities will no longer be available to us. This period in our lives is completely different and out with our control. As a result, smaller things can appear more challenging as we navigate through this different path.

This is why it is so important for us to share with you some of the amazing local support services the College has partnerships with. One service in particular is The Talking Rooms.

The Talking Rooms has partnered up with the College to offer our students a free confidential counselling service which is available through video calls or the telephone.

The Talking Rooms allows you to speak to someone out with your lockdown partners, in a supportive, nonjudgmental and confidential way.

If you think this confidential counselling service could benefit you or you just want some extra support, please don’t hesitate to get in contact with your Student Adviser via StudentAdviser@nclan.ac.uk to get booked in for your confidential assessment.

The Talking Rooms are always here to help!

December 2020

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