Southlands Methodist Trust Report 22-23 by southlandsmethodisttrust

Southlands Methodist Trust Review of Activities

September 2022 – August 2023

Southlands Methodist Trust ◆ Trustees’ Review 2022-23

Overview and Introduction

The Trustees of the Southlands Methodist Trust (SMT) are pleased to offer this account of the charity’s work during the course of the year 2022–23. The charitable purposes of the Trust, its position within a collegiate university, and its reach into the broader learning life of the Church provide opportunities for creative and innovative interventions. Working so closely with institutions that share commitments to creating meaningful change and transforming lives, SMT activities have the potential for significant impact on learning and practice. This report contains examples of how the charity has advanced that mission. Those wishing to find out more about our work are invited to visit us at southlandsmethodisttrust.org.uk and susannawesleyfoundation.org, and to follow the social media accounts listed at the end of this report.

Dr Christopher Stephens Head of Southlands College

The Reverend Dr Tim Macquiban Chair of Trustees

Southlands Methodist Trust ◆ Trustees’ Review 2022-23

Overview and Introduction

Thank you for taking an interest in the Southlands Methodist Trust. Please do contact the Trustees if you would like to work with us and help shape our mission in future years.

Contents

Administrative Details for the year ended 31st August 2023

Overview and Introduction

Contents

Administrative Details

Objectives and Activities

Research and Knowledge Exchange (RKE)

Research and Knowledge Exchange at Roehampton

The Susanna Wesley Foundation

Enriching Community Life

Enhancing Student Outcomes

Southlands Venture

Community Music

Awards, Prizes and Hardship/Access Grants

Alumni Engagement

Supporting Chaplaincy

Managing our College Archives

Enhancing Methodist Education

Methodist Schools in Britain

Methodist Higher and Further Education in Britain and Ireland

Europe and Worldwide

Trustees: Rev Dr Tim Macquiban, Chair Rev Dr Jennifer Smith, Deputy Chair Rev Dr Stan Brown Rev Dr Joanne Cox-Darling Mr Alan Davies Rev Geoffrey Farrar Dr Clive Norris Rev Colin Smith

Registered office: Southlands College, 80 Roehampton Lane, London, SW15 5SL

Auditors:

Solicitors:

haysmacintyre Chartered Accountants 10 Queen Street Place London EC4R 1AG

Pothecary Witham Weld 70 St George’s Square London SW1V 3RD

Bankers: HSBC West End Corporate Banking Centre 70 Pall Mall London SW1Y 5EZ

Contents

Administrative Details

Methodist Central Finance Board 9 Bonhill Street London EC2A 4PE

Southlands Methodist Trust ◆ Trustees’ Review 2022-23

Objectives and Activities

The aims and purposes of the charity are: 1.

as part of the work carried out through the Discipleship and Ministries Learning Network, to support in association with the college and university the development of Christian, and specifically Methodist, scholarship, research and innovation of local, national and global significance and to facilitate the public dissemination of such developments.

2. to enable members of the Methodist community and wider public in Britain and internationally to benefit from the academic and other expertise and experience within the college and the university and the facilities available within them. 3. to enrich the community life of the college and the work of its chaplaincy in ways that reflect its Methodist values and ethos. 4. to maintain and develop the relationship between the Methodist Church, the college and the university in the context of developing the contribution made to the work carried out through the Discipleship and Ministries Learning Network.

Objectives and Activities

5. to further the wider charitable purposes of the Methodist Church through close working with the other persons and bodies responsible for the work carried out through the Discipleship and Ministries Learning Network.

Southlands Methodist Trust ◆ Trustees’ Review 2022-23

Research & Knowledge Exchange Southlands College, along with its sister colleges at the University of Roehampton, provides the physical spaces for the academic work of the university to take place – our colleges are the building blocks which provide the context for that work. In addition to providing a site and facilities, the contributions of Southlands to the advanced academic activities of the university extend into more direct investment and resourcing. The college, primarily in partnership with the Southlands Methodist Trust, participates in and helps to shape RKE activities across Roehampton’s departments, especially focusing on work which most closely aligns with the priorities of the Methodist Church in Britain. Many of the key themes of the University’s RKE Centres align with areas of interest in the mission of the Methodist Church, and throughout 2022–23 we have continued to ensure that RKE activities at Southlands and through the Southlands Methodist Trust are both informed by, and also inform, the RKE work of the wider research environment at Roehampton.

RKE at Roehampton

Project Sponsorship In the reporting year the Southlands Methodist Trust continued to fund RKE at Roehampton in areas which meet the charitable objectives of the Trust and which offer benefit to the public more broadly. Each year the Head of Southlands College works with the trustees of the SMT to manage and administer a grants-awarding scheme for RKE work in the university that supports both the research profile of the university and the charitable purposes of the Trust. In 2022–23 a number of projects took place across Roehampton’s departments, and a further series of grants were awarded for the following academic year

Projects approved in 2021–22 and commenced during 2022–23 A number of projects were approved in 2021–22 to be carried out in 2022–23. Some research was delayed as a consequence of both changes in university staffing and post-Covid impacts. However, significant progress has been made in a number of projects, as reported below, and several papers will be delivered at conferences in the next reporting year. 1.

Exploring barriers to African parental involvement in the UK education system

The project is aiming to identify barriers to parental involvement for African parents and further explore ways to promote inclusion in education spaces for parents and for their children. Focus groups have been completed with 32 African parents living in the UK and a thematic analysis presented at a conference, with an event planned for Spring 2024 focusing on African children living in the UK. 2. Fostering theory of mind through early story writing – an interventional study in Year 2 This study is exploring a gap in research in relation to the potential roles of early text composition skills in supporting children’s Theory of Mind (ToM) and has been assessing if regular story writing in Year 2 supports children’s Theory of Mind while having a beneficial impact on reading comprehension. Data has been collected and a positive relationship established with year 2 teachers to evaluate the progress children are making with reading, with a conference in September 2023.

See ‘Shakespeare’s ‘black’ sonnets’ project Southlands Southlands Methodist Methodist TrustTrust ◆ Trustees’ ◆ Trustees’ Review Review 2022-23 2022-23

Southlands Methodist Trust ◆ Trustees’ Review 2022-23

Research and Knowledge Exchange

Parental involvement has a significant effect on pupil achievement throughout the years of schooling. Cultural differences can impact on parental involvement (due to cultural-specific attitudes towards professionals, language barriers, lack of knowledge of the education system, differing goals and agendas between families and schools). Critiques of parental involvement practices have also focused on their culturally specific nature which hinders participation for socially vulnerable groups such as immigrants and minorities.

3. Transition to the labour market for young people with special educational needs and disability: aspirations, experiences and future directions This project is a pilot study to produce first data concerning the aspirations and experiences of young people with special educational needs and disability (SEND) in relation to their transition to the labour market under the SEND Code of Practice (2015) for England and the newly introduced National Disability Strategy. The study aims to a) explore young people’s experiences, aspirations, and expected/current transition pathways to employment; b) identify current practices, barriers and facilitators in the pathway to employment; c) identify the roles of practitioners and professionals involved in the transition process. The project has been extended and will be completed in 2025. 4. AVaTAR: Archive of Victorian Translations from Asia and their Readership This project has involved the creation of a public resource to bring AVaTAR to everyone, opening up to users the remarkable diversity of intercultural encounters sustained by the reading habits of adventurous Victorians. A descriptive and photographic online catalogue has been developed, available as an open resource, with a paper presented in September 2023 to publicise the website. It is intended, too, to engage local audiences at Roehampton through an exhibition in the university library.

Research and Knowledge Exchange

5. ‘My Extinction’

What does it take for us to actually act on the climate crisis – especially if you’re the kind of person who knows all the problems, yet still does nothing? This documentary feature film has found new ways to confront the great dilemma of our times from a more relatable and human perspective, looking at the ways in which we turn aside from overwhelming or difficult feelings, and how we might counter that understandable tendency in ourselves. ‘My Extinction’, released in April 2023 to critical acclaim, tracks the grant recipient’s journey into environmental awareness and activism. The premier at the JW3 cultural centre was a great success and the film, described as ‘a revealingly honest account of how to feel your feelings, act on your privilege, and get active when threatened with extinction’, has been screened at Curzon Cinemas across the country. 6. Shakespeare’s “Black” Sonnets The figure of the ‘Dark Lady’ in Shakespeare’s Sonnets (1609) has long been a cause of discomfort and anxiety for white readers and scholars, and has often seemed to inhibit engagement with the Sonnets by readers of colour. This project has been reconsidering the ‘blackness’ of Shakespeare’s Sonnets, examining the real-life Black woman who might have inspired this figure, but also analysing the racial tropes which construct blackness and whiteness in the Sonnets, and their part in the historical construction of racism or racecraft later in the 17th century. Researchers

Southlands Methodist Trust ◆ Trustees’ Review 2022-23

RKE at Roehampton

have worked to highlight the racialised language used in Shakespeare’s sonnets and have produced A-level materials for students to enable them to consider questions of race. In addition, a dance film has been made which supports the other materials, and an event was held in Clerkenwell presenting findings and promoting discussion. 7. The Laws and Customs of Colonial War – Author workshop A diverse set of scholars interested in the history of the laws of war were invited to attend an author workshop with a view to producing an edited volume on the laws of colonial war. The impetus for the publication is the perceived failure of contemporary scholarship to think through the relationship between ‘the defining moments of the laws of war and the emergence of colonisation’. The workshop has resulted in a proposal, submitted to Oxford University Press, for a book which will be an innovative look at the problem of humanity in war. 8. The Instrumental Role of Financial Literacy of Young Adults in South West London in improving Social Mobility and Community Wellbeing This project focused on the local South West London community, with diverse socio-economic backgrounds, aiming to understand better the financial knowledge gaps of local underprivileged groups and to provide recommendations for educators and charities on supporting financial literacy. Based on consultations and a workshop with The Money Charity, tailored materials have been developed and offered to Roehampton students. Findings regarding pedagogical interventions were presented at the HE Learning and Teaching Conference in June 2023. 9. Post-harvest losses reduction in the downstream marine fisheries for women fish traders: The Case of Majengo in Mombasa County, Coast Region-Kenya This project has been extended and completion is expected by May 2024. Its aim is to understand the constraints in the downstream marine fisheries sector and post-harvest challenges faced by women fish traders in Majengo, Kenya, and to train them in the required fish handling and value-addition processing techniques to prevent post-harvest losses. A majority of women fish traders live in informal establishments where they continue to experience high poverty levels and lack access to technical value addition training required to accrue maximum benefits from fish handling and processing activities.

Southlands Methodist Trust ◆ Trustees’ Review 2022-23

Research and Knowledge Exchange

RKE at Roehampton

Projects approved during the reporting year for completion in 2023–24: 1.

Promoting Access to Clean Energy in Rural Communities: A Training Program for Women in Kenya This project aims to pilot an awareness program on the financial, economic and social benefits of using the PAYGo solar home system, tailored for women in Kenyan rural communities. The project will partner with Tumaini Women Kenya (TWK), a Free Methodist NGO with extensive experience in the region.

2. Addressing the impact of racial trauma on young refugee people (YRP) This project will explore how YRP understand and experience racism in their everyday lives and the impact this has on their mental health; the project aims to conduct semi-structured interviews with 18–24-year-olds because of the high prevalence of racism in this age group. It aims to shed light on factors that may influence differences in the impacts of racism by focusing on the intersectionality of individual and system level variables, including economic and social factors, access to health and social services, and cultural practices.

Research and Knowledge Exchange

3. Multi-Agency Partnerships across Alternative Provision (AP) and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) systems: Investigating ‘Collaborative Working’ in One Local Authority to Inform an Effective Alternative Provision Performance Framework There is limited research that investigates the ‘collaborative working’ and partnerships that exist with practitioners across agencies to support students with SEND in AP. With the proposed reforms to the AP sector, emphasis on multi-agency partnerships to provide consistency and meet the individual needs of youth (SEND and AP Improvement Plan, 2023) and development of national standards and a national framework for AP in 2025, this study will investigate the ‘collaborative working’ practices across multiple agencies in one Local Authority to inform policy and practice. 4. Intergenerational Adaptation in the Complementary School Sector: Language, Culture, Identity and Community Needs This project will explore the adaptive changes that established complementary school communities have undergone over two to three generations of Heritage Language (HL)-learners. The fieldwork will be based on three communities in London that have been providing HL education since the 1980s. A mixed-methods design, using interviews and focus groups with current and former learners and school staff, and surveys for the wider school communities, will triangulate themes on learners’ language and cultural practices, identities and priorities, and project future community needs.

See ‘My Extinction’ project 10

Southlands Methodist Trust ◆ Trustees’ Review 2022-23

RKE at Roehampton

5. Macroeconomic Dynamics and Mental Health In recent years we have seen growing evidence of how mental ill-health can have a huge economic impact. However, we have a limited understanding of the effects that general economic circumstances can exert on mental health. The project intends to investigate the relevance of complimentary methods to inform mental health policy strategies. Using (secondary) panel data, the project wants to investigate the capacity of macroeconomic indicators to forecast mental health dynamics. Finding evidence of relations between macroeconomic trends (inflation, GDP/ unemployment, public finance, interest rates, etc.) and mental health, given the ready and easy access of macroeconomic data for all institutions, will provide a simple and cost-effective tool to design effective health policies.

RKE at Roehampton

Large, Collaborative Projects Work by staff at Southlands College with the Trustees of Southlands Methodist Trust and academics at Roehampton has led to some longer-term projects with more significant funding over the last few reporting years. The ‘Faith Long Lived’ project has explored the experiences of individuals who have recited the creeds over the course of several decades and how this has, or has not, shaped their life and faith. The project has involved a focus on older Christians, which has been valuable in facilitating their reflection on their lived experience but also in capturing the insights and celebrating the particular gifts of a group which is often neglected in practical research. A significant number of interviews have been undertaken, with reflection on the data in meetings of the research team at Roehampton, while the final strand of the empirical work is to be completed in November 2023 with a focus group. Early findings of the research have already been presented at the 2022 Ecclesiology and Ethnography Conference. Further papers and presentations are planned for 2023–24.

At the heart of the project was the place of friendship and practice within ecumenical work between Methodists and Catholics, particularly the kind of work that takes place in extra-ecclesial settings, such as social action, and the report highlights friendship and relationship as the key enabler while also providing significant insights about the place of practice, marginality and lay agency. These themes resonate with the work of the Susanna Wesley Foundation and have been picked up in new projects being funded by the Southlands Methodist Trust through the Foundation.

Faith Long Lived project 12

Southlands Methodist Trust ◆ Trustees’ Review 2022-23

Research and Knowledge Exchange

The report from another substantial project – theological action research which explored examples of joint Methodist-Roman Catholic social action work – has been published and launched during the reporting year at a hybrid event (in person and online). The event was attended by the lead researchers, some of the project team, SMT trustees, and Catholics and Methodists involved in ecumenical activity. The project set out to ask whether there was something particular about the way Methodists and Catholics work together in social action; what operant and espoused theologies of ecumenism were present in the lived practice of working together; and whether these working relationships had something to offer wider ecumenical conversations.

The Susanna Wesley Foundation (SWF) is a community of scholars and practitioners based at Southlands College, supported directly by both the Southlands Methodist Trust and the University of Roehampton. The Foundation’s aim is to facilitate research and enquiry that influences practice and generates learning of benefit to the wider community. Our values and approach The year 2022–23 saw the Foundation continuing in its work of encouraging and enabling connections and collaboration – between different disciplines, between lay and ordained, between theory and practice, between those of different professional and cultural backgrounds, between the academy and churches and with their wider communities. The desire to contribute to inclusion and participation, to explore different ways of knowing, and to be part of systemic change informed our projects and involvements.

Our community, partnerships, and joint activities

Research and Knowledge Exchange

This drive towards connection and the exchange of knowledge and understanding across different groupings and backgrounds impacts on the reach of the Foundation and extends its community. Alongside the small number of employed staff of the Foundation are Associates and Honorary Fellows who contribute to its initiatives by offering insights from their experience and expertise, academics from Roehampton and other institutions who carry out SWF research projects, and an array of speakers from our conferences, events and podcasts whose inputs trigger dialogue and conversation, while those who participate in our events and engage with our website and newsletters also provide valued perspectives.

Other important members of the SWF community are those who are sponsored by the Foundation to undertake PhDs and professional doctorates in theology at the University of Roehampton. Current students’ areas of study include the following: •

Storytelling and culture change in local Methodist churches

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Disability theology and embodied ways to know God

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Using theological action research to explore new contextual churches as potential catalysts for change in theology and practice

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The work of lay employees within British Methodism and its relationship to vocation and calling

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Poverty and inclusion, theology, and the local church

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Communion as embodied theatre in the faith formation of teenagers.

Southlands Methodist Trust ◆ Trustees’ Review 2022-23

The Susanna Wesley Foundation

Alongside this commitment to doctoral study in theology at Roehampton, the Foundation supports the university’s practical theology seminars, promoting and participating in them, identifying contributors, and funding speaker expenses. SWF is also involved in academic communities outside Roehampton and has offered bursaries to students from under-represented groups to enable them to participate in the annual conferences of various academic theology communities: the British and Irish Association for Practical Theology (BIAPT), the Society for the Study of Theology (SST), and the Society for the Study of Christian Ethics (SSCE). In 2022–23 the Foundation joined the Institute of Leadership and Social Ethics (ILSE), the Research Institute of ETF Leuven, for a multi-disciplinary conference around the relationship between theology and economics: Economics & Human Flourishing: (What) Can Economists Learn from Theology?, also sponsoring a Roehampton economist to give a paper at the event. The juxtaposition of presentations from academic theologians and economists – with inputs, too, from practitioners and opportunities for exchange and conversation – led to insights with significant practical implications. SWF’s partnership with Theos, which began in 2021–22, continued into 2022– 23, with the publication of a joint report around the subject of death: Ashes to Ashes: Beliefs, Trends, and Practices in Dying, Death, and the Afterlife. The project investigated current trends on, and attitudes in the UK towards, dying, death, and the afterlife, and explored the role of churches and faith communities. The Foundation is developing resources to encourage further reflection on some of the themes of this work. A new venture for 2022–23 has been a partnership with the Saltley Trust, a Christian educational charity, in a two-year project to research the everyday experience of learning as disciples on ‘the edges of church and society’ being led by Roehampton academics, and involving Methodist practitioners, among others, as partners in reflecting on the data.

Our 2023 Conference – an international affair In April 2023, the Foundation hosted a conference with the International Association of Methodist Schools, Colleges and Universities (IAMSCU), as part of their 2023 international conference involving events in different Methodist-related venues around the UK. The theme was the role of education in ‘Transforming Lives’ and the event at Roehampton was entitled ‘Transforming Lives to Shape a Just Society: values-based higher education’. There were more than 130 attendees from across the world, with over thirty contributors from IAMSCU-related institutions from different global regions: among them, Hamline University (USA), Wesleyan College of Manila (Philippines), United Methodist University (Mozambique), Yonsei University (South Korea), Soochow University (Taiwan), and La Universidad del Centro Educativo Latinamericano (Argentina). The event offered glimpses of higher education in a range of very different contexts, exploring some of the challenges

Southlands Methodist Trust ◆ Trustees’ Review 2022-23

Research and Knowledge Exchange

The Susanna Wesley Foundation

and issues, as well as the possibilities, offered by Methodist roots, values and relationships. Case studies teased out how values shape choices about different aspects of activity and provision, and highlighted how students can be prepared for a future in which they can make a positive contribution to society. Educators, researchers and university leaders considered the role of universities in today’s global issues, and how higher education can address past wrongs and contribute to better futures. The event also involved colleagues from the University of Roehampton – chaplains and members of the Southlands College team, and academics, who shared aspects of their research and pedagogy in breakout groups.

Our work around learning

Our work around equality, diversity and inclusion As with learning, the Foundation’s work has also centred on the theme of equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI), and SWF has made its resources available to the Methodist Church in Britain as it implements its strategy for EDI – a strategy known as Justice, Dignity and Solidarity. The first phase of research capturing experiences and perceptions as the Church journeys on this process of transformation was carried out in 2022–23, with reporting and further work to evaluate progress made in the implementation of the strategy anticipated in 2023–24. Additionally, one of SWF’s associates has provided an accompanying role for some of the research and work around truth and reconciliation in the Methodist Church, which will be taken forward in 2023–24.

Southlands Methodist Trust ◆ Trustees’ Review 2022-23

Research and Knowledge Exchange

The 2023 Transforming Lives Conference

‘Learning’, its impetus, implementation and impact, has been at the heart of a number of the Foundation’s projects since its inception, and the theme continued to feature in its work in 2022–23. The ongoing project with Saltley (previously mentioned) focuses on this topic, while a former project looking at the learning of lay pioneers and exploring issues of vocation, discernment, freedom and guidance, has led to a recent Grove Books publication: Lay Pioneering and Thriving in Mission. An action research project, carried out over two years in Sheffield, has also centred on learning for lay leadership and ministry and the outcomes of this are being shared in the Methodist Church. The year 2022–23 has seen work, too, on planned publications arising out of SWF’s theological action research project exploring collaborative learning in Methodist contexts. This project was funded by the Foundation and involved a range of people from the Foundation’s different constituencies including academics from Roehampton, associates of Southlands Methodist Trust and the Foundation, Methodist presbyters, lay people and learning practitioners. The project’s findings have continued to inform approaches to other work carried out by the Foundation as well as to practice outside the Foundation.

The Susanna Wesley Foundation

Our work around hope and environmental issues

Plans for the Future

‘Crafting Hope’ became the Foundation’s theme during 2022–23 and this is reflected in the various podcasts which have been recorded by SWF during the year and posted on the Foundation’s website. Following our 2021–22 conference on sustainability, we continued to explore issues around the climate crisis with a series of podcast conversations looking at evidencebased hope, intergenerational collaboration and systemic working in relation to environmental issues: this with a view to mobilising optimistic and collaborative action. The podcasts have involved an array of contributors: among them, an academic and writer on evidence-based hope, a Methodist member of the Joint Public Issues Team, (which is an ecumenical partnership aiming to help the Churches to work together for peace and justice), and a Roehampton student leader who is involved in projects at the university encouraging environmental appreciation and action.

SWF will continue to collaborate with academics across different disciplines and find opportunities to bring them into conversation with practitioners and church communities. One means of enabling sharing and the exchange of understandings (towards an impact on practice) will be through a new SWF programme in 2023–24 which seeks to provide a space for those involved in leading church ministry to gather in a small, supportive, ecumenical group of peers to share stories, ideas, resources, and support. Crafting Hope Together will be a combination of in-person and online events and will draw on the learning and experience derived from the Foundation’s various involvements and connections over its lifetime.

We have also funded a theologian and environmental ethicist (and associate of the Foundation) to develop his research around a theological rationale for Christian action towards mitigating environmental degradation and the climate crisis, drawing also on his extensive work around hope. The project, entitled The climate crisis; the Christian virtue of hope, draws out practical implications and applications. This has also opened up some possibilities for interdisciplinary collaboration around the theme of hope.

SWF will continue to sponsor doctoral students, to support the university’s work in practical theology, and to contribute to the implementation of the Methodist Church’s EDI strategy, starting some new work with the Church’s cultural fellowships and language congregations in 2023–24. Several of the Foundation’s 2022–23 projects will also continue in 2023–24. SWF will develop resources arising out of the 2022–23 research around ‘death’ and will continue to shine a light on the topic of ‘hope’, making it the focus of the Foundation’s annual conference in the summer of 2024. It is also anticipated that the Foundation will contribute funding to a large-scale project starting at the end of 2023–24, led by a Methodist academic, which will explore how the disciplines of theology and religious studies in the UK operate in relation to race and class.

The SWF website exists to showcase elements of the Foundation’s work and to encourage engagement with some of the issues which we are uncovering through our projects, publications and events. We post book reviews and reflections as well as podcasts and conversations, and identify events and initiatives which connect to our work. Significant relevant activity by the University of Roehampton and the Methodist Church is highlighted in posts and links. The aim is to spawn debate and discussion with a view, ultimately, to innovations in practice.

Research and Knowledge Exchange

Our website

A new project The end of the reporting year saw the start of a new project, Developing Reflective Learning on Diaconal Identities and Work with Refugees and Asylum Seekers. This project will pilot an international learning programme which brings together workers from different Christian contexts across a number of European countries, including the UK, who are involved in working with social action initiatives supporting refugees and asylum seekers. The process will enable them to explore their identities and relationships to enhance their practice, with mutual learning about responding to the challenges and developing community engagement, and a resource for use in future reflective learning activity.

Southlands Methodist Trust ◆ Trustees’ Review 2022-23

Enriching Community Life The SMT works in partnership with the Southlands College team to organise and encourage a range of activities to enhance the student and staff experience throughout the academic year. It seeks to find ways to reflect its Methodist values and ethos, and through this to maintain and develop the relationship between the Methodist Church, the college and the University of Roehampton. In 2022-23 the college placed particular emphasis on creating social events that bring learning, mentoring, and networking opportunities into the community life of the college, supporting the flourishing of our community in ways which meet the university’s key goals. During 2022-23, the Trust continued to fund the Deputy Head of College position better to develop and oversee this programme of work. The college team delivers these events by collaborating with student leaders and student participants, academic schools, our sister colleges, external partners, the chaplaincy team, and other departments within the institution. We seek to co-create a programme that is engaging, relevant, and interesting, which encourages our community to broaden their knowledge and take part in activities that help to improve graduate outcomes. Our heritage

Enhancing Student Outcomes

creates a special foundation for this experience of learning and growth, as we encourage students to consider their own values, and hold them in conversation with the college’s own values, inherited as they are from the Church and nurtured by the SMT. In 2022–23 the college further developed its pioneering student leadership programme, creating formal recognition for students who have successfully completed its new training package. The certificate of completion has been authorised by the university’s Department for Continuing Education, with plans to develop it further into an accredited module for degree programmes in 2024–25. Research into the benefits of student leadership at Roehampton indicates substantial improvements in all major measures of student success, including continuation, completion and graduate outcomes in employment. In addition, students gain greater confidence in their abilities, which in turn helps them to support their fellow students, enhancing peer-to-peer collaboration and mentoring. Southlands continues to develop these and other initiatives with a view to fostering a supportive and responsive culture at the college. The college is ambitious about creating a thriving learning community, one that reflects the changing demographics and priorities of the university and the Higher Education sector. In order to achieve these goals, it has six broad areas where it focuses its activities:

Offering welcome, hospitality and belonging Engaging our community in critical issues facing society Encouraging the exploration of identity Celebrating achievement

Creating social learning opportunities The SMT regularly provides targeted funding for events that help to achieve these goals. It also offers staff time and expertise to support, communicate and widen the impact of these activities to benefit the life of the college and wider university.

Southlands Southlands Methodist Methodist Trust Trust ◆ Trustees’ ◆ Trustees’Review Review2020-21 2022-23

Southlands Methodist Trust ◆ Trustees’ Review 2022-23

Enriching Community Life

Influencing whole-university identity and activity

Enhancing Student Outcomes

Examples of the community, cultural and learning activities we ran during the year 2022–23 included: Expanding the college’s calendar of cultural celebrations to include the Hindu festival of Diwali, the celebration of which was partly funded by the SMT, with both spiritual and cultural celebrations hosted at the college. Other events marked for the first time included the Persian new year festival of Nowruz, and a colourful Garba Night of traditional dancing held in early October. An International Festival in November attracted more than 200 students, encouraging them to talk about their home countries, and to learn from others. At all these main calendar events, including the college’s Christmas celebrations, there was a particular emphasis on fostering an atmosphere of kindness at the college, a culture summed up in the college’s new motto: ‘Southlands Spirit: do all the good you can to all the people you can.”

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The Homelessness Awareness Week, which was a major event on campus, in large part led by the Southlands College team. It involved a film night, numerous discussions and awareness-raising events, culminating in a charity film screening followed by a sleepout. Central to the programme was a faith-based symposium was held in The Well chapel on listening to and responding to homeless people.

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Initiating numerous sustainability events and programmes, reaching out beyond the college to inspire and create opportunities for student participation across the university and beyond. The college was particularly pleased to create a new College Community Leader position for engagement with the London Wetland Centre, which led to numerous student visits and also generated a popular series of twilight Bat Walks across the campus, led by an LWC specialist. The university was particularly proud to host the Wetland Centre’s eye-catching floor mural in the library foyer, an eye-catching display of a riverside habitat.

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Encouraging students to enhance their employability skills and profile. The college supported the Faculty of Business and Law in running employability events, including successful Careers Week and LinkedIn Workshops, which 75% of participants found useful to their future careers, thereby supporting their graduate outcomes.

Enriching Community Life

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Southlands Methodist Trust ◆ Trustees’ Review 2022-23

Southlands Venture

Southlands Venture is a programme which allows students to undertake a social action project, supported by an experienced mentor and a discretionary award from the Southlands Methodist Trust. To qualify for the award, students must submit a proposal which illustrates how their idea meets the Southlands Venture criteria, which is as follows: 1.

The project must not exceed funding of £500

2. The project should be completed within a 12-week timeframe, and therefore be realistic and grounded 3. The project should engage other students and members of the university community 4. There should be clear learning outcomes for the student/s involved which will help them in their progression through their studies and into the world of work

Projects In the academic year 2022–23, we saw the successful completion of three Southlands Venture projects, one of which links into an ongoing wider project within the Roehampton Students’ Union (RSU), strengthening our connections with the wider student body.

The Nettles Project

A still from a video about the Southlands Nettles Project, available on YouTube.

Southlands Methodist Trust ◆ Trustees’ Review 2022-23

Southlands Venture funding was secured to pay for a series of four workshops, which took students through the process of cleaning, combing, plaiting, spinning and dyeing the nettles before a final exercise in creating a range of craft products and fabrics. Particular emphasis was given to the social learning potential of such an exercise, with displays teaching students about every aspect of the fashion industry’s production, supply chain and marketing processes, alongside detailed information about the environmental impact of the trade. One of the students led several informative workshops which illustrated the process of extracting strong and reliable fibres. During these workshops, staff and students were able to create their own small trinkets using thread processed from harvested nettles, and enjoyed a yunomi of nettle tea.

Southlands Methodist Trust ◆ Trustees’ Review 2022-23

Enriching Community Life

The Nettles Project gained Southlands Venture funding in February 2023, though the inspiration was drawn from an idea of Dr Hiroko Onishi, senior lecturer in the Law School, some months earlier. Following her passing, two students, supported by the Deputy Head of College as mentor, agreed to continue the project as a fitting memorial. The programme of nettles-based activities aimed to educate students and staff about sustainable fashion and encourage the use of more environmentally friendly materials.

Southlands Venture

These active workshops provided a fun and creative learning environment and drew the community together in discussions surrounding sustainability. Participants enjoyed taking away a small but tangible piece of evidence of the potential of natural resources, in the form of their trinket. As well as promoting sustainability, this project provided a creative and positive link between the Venture and the Faculty of Business and Law.

‘Bean & Body’ The Bean & Body project commenced in March 2023. Three students from the Faculty of Business and Law, supported by the Deputy Head of School as mentor, undertook this project, which aimed to recycle used coffee beans into a sustainable skincare product.

Enriching Community LIfe

Feedback from the student participants themselves indicates that the project provided ample learning opportunities:

“Undertaking this project provided us with real-time entrepreneurial experience and taught us invaluable lessons. As we now embark on different career paths, we carry the knowledge and skills we acquired along this journey. We believe that the university years present an ideal time to pursue projects like ours, leveraging the available resources and using them to create and learn.” Bean & Body project participants

Southlands Methodist Trust ◆ Trustees’ Review 2022-23

The Radio Project The Radio Project commenced in the summer of 2023. Venture supported a Southlands College Community Leader (CCL), assisted by the college’s Engagement Team Leader, in founding a student-led radio station in association with the Roehampton Students Union (RSU). Specifically, Venture offered support to the society in obtaining a Linear Webcast Licence, which allows the station to play copyrighted music. The radio station will provide entertainment to the university community, and also allow students to expand their technical skills in radio broadcasting, as all students are welcome to have a go at producing and hosting a show. It also provides a platform for students to take part in topical discussions, and to share their creative gifts. The project is designed to encourage greater community communication and cohesion, and open up new avenues for discussion and learning opportunities. Collaboration with the RSU on this project has also helped to build strong relationships across the university’s institutions.

Future plans In terms of future plans, discernment and discussion surrounding the promotion and overall branding of Venture is needed in order to keep up with contemporary standards. The model currently works well, but as the Faculty of Business and Law continues to evolve there is scope for discussion surrounding the evolution of Venture’s links with it and what this means for selection criteria, documentation of proceedings, and the role of project mentors.

Southlands Methodist Trust ◆ Trustees’ Review 2022-23

Enriching Community Life

The used grounds were collected from coffee shops around campus, an initiative carried out in collaboration with Roehampton Students’ Union and the university’s catering supplier Elior. This production process was hugely successful in giving the students an experience of entrepreneurship. They worked together as a team to create a product from scratch, alongside unique branding and a digital marketing package, experiences entirely applicable to the workplace. They also undertook market research, surveying voluntary users of a prototype/test product, which engaged others in the community in conversations surrounding sustainability, and which helped the students themselves to learn about conducting research.

Community Music

Music-based activities have demonstrated the many roles music can play in forming communities, enriching the learning environment, and engaging with the broader themes of contemporary civic and national life. Music is a catalyst for personal and interpersonal development and it does this at all levels, plugging in to the values which the SMT, the college and the university champions. Our musical activities in 2022–23 contributed to our shared work on encouraging social responsibility, respect for the dignity and cultural distinctiveness of others, and nurturing the belief that we all have a role to play in shaping the environment in which we live and work. By working in partnership with students to create these activities, we are also engaging with them in social learning and in developing employability skills such as project management, team work, and the importance of inclusion. For the college to be a ‘home from home’, we need music which connects to the traditions and fashions of our students today. Our student leaders are central to this, working with the college team to continue to shape activities, planning and project-managing performances for Garba and Diwali, and bringing their musicality and style to events. There were performances for Christmas and Celebration Dinners, and we continued our series of Lunchtime Music Theatre including a show in the atrium of the Sir David Bell Building. Our Community Choir has continued to meet weekly, offering a supportive environment for singers of all abilities and incorporating wellbeing activities into every session. The Director of Music worked with the Roehampton Players on 9 to 5 -The Musical, with lyrics and music by Dolly Parton. He also ran a series of sessions on ‘Music and Mindfulness’, where groups of 5-10 staff and students explored evidence-based techniques to enhance their wellbeing.

Southlands Methodist Trust ◆ Trustees’ Review 2022-23

Music has brought students and staff together for significant university events, at which our music scholars have played a key role. We celebrated the installation of our chancellor Baroness Sandip Verma with a special choir assembled from across the university to sing music by Rachmaninov, alongside instrumental performances from trumpet, organ and piano of music by Bach, Handel and Purcell. Our university Carol Service with our sister colleges brought a different choir together for traditional carols and music by Rutter and Archer, and solos by current undergraduates and music award holders.

Enriching Community Life

In 2022–23 the college successfully collaborated with the SMT to launch RoeFest – a summer mini-festival of student and staff performances at Southlands. Led by Gulliver Ralston and Bari Malik and kindly supported by SMT funding, we trialled a series of different performances in The Reef. These included a dazzling array of harps, guitars, pipes and percussion from “Bahareque” (a Latin American Rhythms Band), Indian and Pakistani songs for voice and guitar, a heavy metal band, and a jazz quartet. We used SMT-funded drums from sub-Saharan Africa so an audience of students and staff could join in.

Southlands Methodist Trust ◆ Trustees’ Review 2022-23

Community Music

Our musicians and staff also performed at May Day at Whitelands College, for a special Mass celebrating the 180th anniversary of the arrival of the Society of the Sacred Heart in England, and at a memorial service in The Well commemorating the life and work of the much-loved Dr Hiroko Onishi, senior lecturer in the Law School. The university and the college welcomed IAMSCU (International Association of Methodist Schools, Colleges and Universities) to campus, where at the opening service we performed a hymn by Nicola Morrison (Roehampton Chaplain) which was led by the Southlands College Community Worker and the Director of Music. One of our student pianists entertained the evening dinner guests with Franz Liszt’s Liebestraum No. 3.

Community Music

Music continues to enhance the experience of our students and staff at Southlands and across the university. It offers routes into engagement with current social and environmental issues, and ongoing opportunities for social learning. Music gives a sense that different cultures can feel care and respect for each other within the college, as we share in each other’s gifts.

We also saw George Murrell (a previous winner of the SMT’s Charles Wesley Award and Southlands music scholar) lead a performance with other students of his own compositions inspired by the landscape and wildlife at the London Wetland Centre. This public event in their Observatory was part of our ongoing partnership with the Wetland Centre, encouraging learning around environmental sustainability and conservation, and offering our students employability skills through volunteering and internships.

Enriching Community Life

Flexible learning, multiple degree entry points, and more cultural and religious diversity in our student and staff body have been energising opportunities to refresh and adapt the ways in which we relate to each to other. Musical equipment and facilities are well supported by the college and SMT funding alike, providing opportunities for students to gather, create and explore.

Our communal areas are important in providing the right environments for these interactions, as well as providing spaces for creativity and reflection. The Well, with its SMT-funded Yamaha grand piano, has been a welcoming space for our Community Choir and for many individuals to practice and play during breaks from study. The Music Room, equipped with pianos and drumkit, is a flexible space for bands and groups. It has also had an increase in use from staff from academic and support services this year, helping to make the campus a pleasant place to work. We hosted a social Music Tea in the Brunyate Room for 30 students to meet each other and make connections around shared musical interests and, in a separate initiative, 19 students signed up to English National Opera’s free opera ticket scheme for those aged between 16 and 20.

Southlands Methodist Trust ◆ Trustees’ Review 2022-23

Celebrating success and encouraging academic excellence at Southlands College and the university generally are greatly supported by a number of prizes given to staff and students. The SMT continued to sponsor these award-giving activities throughout the 2022–23 academic year. The SMT places particularly importance on the range of prizes designed to celebrate the history and ethos of the college, honouring individual achievement and creative endeavours that promote the Methodist identity of Southlands College. These awards include a number of named prizes: •

The Susanna Wesley Award is given to a female member of staff who promotes a values-focused approach in their work to achieve outstanding performance in educational leadership at Southlands.

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The Charles Wesley Award is given to a student or member of staff who has contributed in an exceptional way to the development of community music at the college.

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The John Wesley Award is given to a student who has made a particularly notable contribution to the student chapel community.

Enriching Community Life

In conjunction with the college and the wider university the SMT also supports a number of students with their financial needs. During the 150th celebrations in 2022 it was decided to promote six different funding opportunities, some of which were new initiatives launched within the anniversary year. The funds are made available through a total of four scholarships and two bursaries:

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Southlands Teaching Scholars, for up to two students on an undergraduate teacher training course at Roehampton

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Southlands Anniversary Scholars (Education), for undergraduate students in the School of Education on a range of study programmes

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Southlands Anniversary Scholars (general), available to undergraduates from across the university

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The Susanna Wesley Foundation DTh Scholarship: The SWF offers one scholarship each year to an individual seeking to study for their Professional Doctorate in Practical Theology at the University of Roehampton.

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The London Methodist Bursary Fund, generously provided by Wesley’s Chapel & Leysian Mission to support general living costs for students

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Wesley’s Chapel Emergency Fund, generously provided by Wesley’s Chapel & Leysian Mission to support general living costs for students

Southlands Methodist Trust ◆ Trustees’ Review 2022-23

Alumni Engagement

Important to the development of a meaningful college community is the work done at Southlands to sustain relationships with former college members. Staff and students at Southlands collaborate closely with trustees and staff of the Southlands Methodist Trust to shape opportunities to enrich our community by engaging with this dispersed community. The SMT provides ongoing support for driving this work by funding the Archives Historian, whose responsibilities include engagement with our alumni communities. During 2022–23 the college built on the great success of our 150th anniversary events by reinstating Southlands Saturday as a core event in the college’s annual calendar, after a twelve-year hiatus. The gathering, held at the end of the summer holiday period, brought together over 60 former students along with college Fellows, former staff and present students for a full programme of activities, hosted by the Head of College. During the day, we had the opportunity to celebrate the lives and contributions of Dr Peter Briggs and Dr Mike Leigh, former Principals of Southlands, both of whom passed away in 2022. We continued to make contact with many hundreds of our alumni community through the publication of the Southlander – our alumni magazine (the creation of which is supported by the Trust) which provides the opportunity to share news, information and stories, as well as to reconnect with former students who have lost touch. The Head of College and the Archives Historian continued to sustain relationships with our dispersed community. Special visits were made to Vera Schaufeld, a former student and Honorary Doctor of the university, to Bill Hart, our oldest living former Principal, and to Janet Dyson, who was Deputy Principal of Southlands until 2002. Janet’s oral history was recorded for the college archive and she revisited the college to cut a celebratory cake as part of our Southlands Saturday celebration.

Enriching Community Life

Awards, Prizes and Hardship/ Access Grants

Southlands Methodist Trust ◆ Trustees’ Review 2022-23

Supporting Chaplaincy

Nurturing Chaplaincy Southlands is home to three full-time members of the university Chaplaincy team, whose work is supported and sponsored by the Southlands Methodist Trust. The College Chaplain, Muslim Chaplain and Chaplaincy Community Worker serve the Southlands College community and encourage a supportive environment where individuals can flourish. Our Chaplaincy Community Worker is a post funded directly by the SMT. The Trust also provides financing for a number of chaplaincy activities led by the Methodist Chaplain to the university, and sponsors projects that support multifaith chaplaincy work across the wider university community, aligning with its charitable objectives. The Chaplains at Southlands are active members of the Southlands College team, and also collaborate closely with the university’s Anglican and Roman Catholic Chaplains and volunteer Associate Chaplains to help serve our Pentecostal, Jewish, Hindu, and Christian LGBT+ communities.

Supporting Chaplaincy

Chaplaincy Activities At Southlands our Chaplains prioritise work which speaks of the values and ethos formed from the college’s Methodist heritage, and work which lives those values out in practice. The university’s Enabling Strategies recognise the significance of enduring values derived from the heritage of its colleges and their providing bodies. It also acknowledges that this distinctive ethos is vital to the ongoing development of the university. In 2022–23 this chaplaincy work has continued to be supported by the SMT both directly and indirectly, and includes:

Caring for others and nurturing a sense of mutual value through the provision of pastoral and bereavement support to students and staff. Through the Chaplaincy Listening Service and their professional practice of pastoral care, Chaplaincy staff have offered both intentional presence and prioritised time for pastoral conversations and bereavement support throughout the year, and have offered specific support in response to the sudden death of a beloved member of our academic staff.

Celebration of Holi ran into the evening

Enhancing our sense of community and belonging through thoughtful and reflective responses to our college context. Examples of this include: raising awareness and about the impact of the cost of living crisis on students; sustaining the Southlands College Community Hub as a social space within our main academic building that increases opportunities for gathering and hospitality, especially important to our commuting cohort; celebrating the life of the college and in particular contributing to the programme of events to celebrate key cultural and religious festivals; developing opportunities to nurture good relationships with staff within the college and partner teams and deepen our understanding of their roles; and planning appropriate memorials to mark the lives of those in our community who have died.

Fostering care for ourselves and our neighbours by modelling and promoting living well in the world and encouraging students to consider their vocations. This has been achieved in a number of ways including: the holding of discussion groups (Drinks & Donuts and The Coexist Café) that explore such themes as everyday self-care, social responsibility, community engagement, responsible consumerism, and living sustainably as students; sharing the development of the university’s partnership with the London Wetland Centre and promoting awareness of environmental justice issues within the college community; celebrating Fairtrade within our spaces and choices; sustaining the Community Fridge within the Southlands social space; and contributing to the university’s annual ‘homelessness awareness’ campaign week.

Enriching Community Life

Offering welcome and hospitality, as well as resources for engaging with faith, through the provision of physical space.

Within Southlands this is accomplished through the allocation and care of specific places. These are The Well, Southlands Chapel in the Methodist tradition, and the Brothers’ and Sisters’ Prayer Rooms in the Islamic tradition. These are all offered as welcoming spaces providing hospitality and a peaceful, reflective environment for all. While celebrating specific traditions, these spaces are cared for in ways that welcome people of all faiths and none, and promote issues of shared concern such as racial justice, equality, and sustainability. A new space was introduced before Ramadan in March 2023 called the ‘Islamic Community Room’. It was opened by the Head of Southlands College and provided a space for the Muslim community to read, study and reflect, and was in line with the college’s aim to enhance the student experience and learning environment.

Supporting Chaplaincy

Holi, Christmas, Iftari Together, Purim, Nowruz and International Women’s Day. Many of these activities were hosted in Southlands in collaboration with our Community Engagement Officers and Student Leaders, as well as societies from the Students’ Union. In addition, larger scale multi-faith events have been organised on behalf of the university for Passover/Pesach, New Year, Remembrance Day and Holocaust Memorial Day. It was joyful to learn about and mark Pesach with Rabbi Gavin Broder, with plans for this event to continue in years to come. Across the wider university the Chaplains also contributed to the celebrations for Black History Month, Islamophobia Awareness Week, International Week, Mental Health Awareness Week, Homelessness Awareness Week; LGBT+ History Month; Pride Month; Fairtrade Fortnight; and activities that promoted this year’s International Women’s Day theme, ‘Embracing Equality’.

Sharing the Methodist Church’s concern to build inclusive communities and celebrate diversity. The college’s Chaplaincy representatives have contributed to this work in a number of ways, creating inclusive spaces in which friendships can be formed and diversity celebrated. Examples of this include the ‘Creative Chaplaincy’ programme, which offers opportunities for people to meet over shared activities that celebrate values such as sustainability and inclusive community. Sessions included mug painting, creating a bag-for-life, making sustainable Christmas decorations, as well as a wreath-making workshop. For new students a number of orientation activities were offered under the banner of ‘URTrips’ and ‘#URban Rambling’, with visits to Richmond Park and the London Wetland Centre. Further opportunities to gather were provided by The Coexist Café as well as a new series called ‘Food, Fun & Friends’. This attracted a number of our students who learnt to make pizza from scratch as well as cook a recipe provided by a Southlands’ alumni from the 1960s.

Enriching Community Life

Supporting Chaplaincy

Working within the wider Chaplaincy Team to promote community cohesion and model peaceful co-existence through a wide range of multi-faith activity. Over the past year this work has included marking specific events and festivals such as the International Day of Prayer for Peace, Interfaith Week, Diwali,

Southlands Methodist Trust ◆ Trustees’ Review 2022-23

Supporting Chaplaincy

Encouraging members of our community to explore their own spiritual needs and religious identity. A diverse calendar of faith festivals and celebrations is marked through our social media work and through the hospitality of the Chaplaincy’s weekly Community Lunch. Members of the Southlands Chaplaincy staff also contribute to events in their respective faith traditions. This includes the university’s Carol Service, Christmas celebrations, Lent and Easter activities, Iftaris Together, and Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Adha celebrations. In terms of regular opportunities for worship and formation in faith, this past year has included: connecting students with a wider Jewish student network; a series of ‘Preparing for Ramadan as a Student’ talks; weekly Jummu’ah prayers (with an average of 90 brothers and sisters attending); Christian Community gatherings and development of resources that promote faith engagement and reflection; monthly ecumenical worship followed by fellowship meal; and supporting and overseeing an Intentional Christian Student house on campus.

Chaplaincy Community Worker and Community Living One of the Trust’s major contributions to the life of the university is to sponsor the employment of a Chaplaincy Community Worker (CCW), which continued with a full-time role in 2022-23. The CCW role focuses on three areas of work: •

Strengthening our ecumenical relationships through supporting the running of an intentional Christian student community house (Barat House) on campus, overseen by the Digby Stuart College and Southlands College Chaplains, and performing a continuing leadership role within this community

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Supporting the work of Southlands Chapel and the Southlands College team in the nurturing of community across the Southlands cohort, including managing the Southlands Venture project

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Being an active member of the wider chaplaincy team

Managing our College Archives

Managing our College Archives The Southlands Methodist Trust employs an Archives Historian to oversee and develop the college’s historic archive, which remains in the ownership of the Trust, with the support of the university through the provision of suitable space and access. The trustees have established priorities for the Archives Historian: sorting and boxing of the large quantity of papers that have previously been labelled miscellaneous, expanding the accessibility of the archive, continuing the digitization of materials where appropriate, and removing or rehousing material which is better held elsewhere. All this work aims to ensure that the resources of the archive are better known and made more available to students and researchers both within and outside the university. The closer cooperation with the University of Roehampton’s archivists continues to grow. All four archives now contribute to the library’s blog posts and annual events including Black History Month and Refugee Week. The Archive of the Reverend Leslie Griffiths, Lord Griffiths of Burry Port, has now been stored in archive grade boxes and catalogued. In accordance with Lord Griffiths’ wishes the archive will be identifiable physically and in catalogue records and kept separately as a collection, with appropriate display signage. A priority has been the cataloguing and boxing of the Southlands Methodist Trust Meetings and Southlands Liaison Group meetings. There is now a complete set of papers for both committees dating back to their inception.

The Barat House Ecumenical Community is supported by the Southlands Methodist Trust alongside the Society of the Sacred Heart, and draws on Methodist and Roman Catholic traditions to shape the identity and practices of this residential staff and student community. During 2022-23, the CCW supported the university’s students through practical and spiritual activities, including social events and prayer meetings.

Southlands Methodist Trust ◆ Trustees’ Review 2022-23

Enriching Community Life

The CCW role provides the opportunity for someone to work for up to two or three years in a faith context to explore their own vocation, to develop their working skills, and to help boost the work of the Chaplaincy.

Resources and mentoring for the Barat House community were provided by the Southlands and Digby Stuart College Chaplains, who created an interactive online resource and offered regular one-to-one meetings with student members of the community.

Southlands Methodist Trust ◆ Trustees’ Review 2022-23

A decade of focused work has brought Southlands College centre-stage within the national and global organisations and networks which lead Methodist Education at all levels. The college has come to take a leadership role in shaping a broad programme of activity with real meaning and impact across a network of over 1,000 institutions, in over 80 countries, serving close to 2 million students. Moving into this position has benefitted Southlands College, the University of Roehampton more broadly, and also served the mission of the Southlands Methodist Trust, which offers support for staff to participate in network activities and to attend conferences, as well as to enable Southlands to host major gatherings at Roehampton. By collaborating with partner institutions, we create opportunities for attracting students, nurturing student exchange and study abroad programmes, discern opportunities for research and knowledge exchange partnerships, generate interest in the academic life of our institution, and drive forward the Methodist Church’s goals for education as a means for transforming lives – and the world – for the better. 2022–23 saw new and important developments and enhancements in the college’s work with and across our UK and global networks – developments which were made possible by the hard work of our staff teams and the active support of SMT trustees.

Methodist Schools in Britain

Southlands worked throughout the year to support the agenda of the Methodist Church in Britain to nurture and develop its mission in Methodist Schools, which focuses on the education strategy, Transforming Lives. Southlands College and the University of Roehampton continued to support strands of this strategy, working with the Methodist Schools Committee (on which the Head of College sits) to explore and enhance the ways by which the Church can nurture teacher education as a Christian vocation. To support this vision, the SMT trustees committed to two new categories of scholarships, which will specifically support Roehampton students training to be teachers or to work in educational roles. The Southlands Teaching Scholarships and Southlands Anniversary Scholarships (Education) represent a major investment in supporting those especially from less privileged backgrounds to pursue teaching vocations. Alongside this, work was done to formulate a research and knowledge exchange programme which might answer the Transforming Lives strategy’s call for learning more about (and enhancing) the impact of Methodist values and approaches to the quality of education in schools. Collaborative activity with Methodist independent Schools Trust will continue and work to implement action in this area will be pursued in the year ahead. The Head of College continues to act as a trustee of Methodist Schools (MAST) – the Religious Authority with regard to all Methodist state schools, which has responsibility for overseeing quality in schools (especially Section 48 inspections) and matters of governance, admissions, and relationships with statutory bodies. During this year, the SMT has continued also to provide a significant grant to Methodist Schools. This enables MAST to sustain a leadership staff team which manages the practical implementation of the trustee body’s responsibilities and decisions. Their work has included significant development of the Church’s academisation programme in response to changing government policies. This collaboration with MAST has led to increasing links to the university, including the appointment of Professor Peter Flew, Director of the School of Education and Pro-Vice Chancellor of the university, as further MAST trustee, and the ongoing access for Roehampton Education students to the learning and development opportunities offered by Methodist Schools.

Methodist Schools Southlands Methodist Trust ◆ Trustees’ Review 2022-23

Southlands Methodist Trust ◆ Trustees’ Review 2022-23

Enhancing Methodist Education

Methodist Higher and Further Education in Britain and Ireland Southlands continues to build up positive connections with and between the various Methodist institutions of Further and Higher Education in Britain and Ireland. Having founded the BIREN network – which brings together the Heads/ lead staff of all such institutions (including important historic archives and museums) in 2020, Southlands brought together this group, offering leadership (the SMT Chair as Chairperson), facilitation (through financial support and administrative provision), and hospitality (hosting the group) at its gathering. The Head of College has worked collaboratively with members of the Connexional Team to support the group to meet in the winter of 2023 at Oxford Brookes’ Centre for Methodism and Church History (one of the member institutions). The SMT will provide continued support of staff and resources for these gatherings. The college’s Archives Historian – a position funded by the SMT and working to the Head of College – has ensured a far greater reach across Methodist educational networks for its historic archive, developing a closer working relationship with other institutions’ archivists and ensuring both collaboration and acquisition arrangements which serve the common goal of promoting Methodist archives throughout Britain for educational use.

Europe and Worldwide

Southlands took an increasingly prominent role amongst the global networks of Methodist Education during 2022–23. The Head of College was active in engaging with both the Methodist-related Theological Schools in Europe (MTSE) and the International Association of Methodist-related Schools, Colleges and Universities (IAMSCU). He participated on the leadership team for the planning of the IAMSCU global meeting in 2023, which brought well over 300 representatives of Methodist educational institutions from all over the globe to an in-person gathering in London, Bristol, Bath and Cambridge: all key centres of Methodism in England. This week-long gathering was a defining moment for Methodist Education that will shape the strategic approach of both IAMSCU and member institutions for years to come. It began at Roehampton with the issuing of a prominent statement of Methodist educational principles emerging from an IAMSCU Board of Directors’ meeting as a call for unity around a common mission, even in our global and denominational diversity. It was followed by the large-scale conference on Roehampton’s campus, Transforming Lives, asking questions about Methodism in HE. The event attracted funding and support from several significant institutions in British and global Methodism, including the SMT. It provided a showcase moment for the work of Southlands College, Roehampton, and indeed all British educational institutions, culminating in a focused session on Theological Education at Cambridge.

In the final stages of the gathering, the Head of College was elected Vice President of IAMSCU and he spoke at a meeting of MTSE, which also elected a new leadership. These will provide ongoing opportunities for the SMT and Southlands to exercise a leading role in global Methodist education in the year ahead, and especially during the gathering in Sweden.

IAMSCU board meeting hosted by Southlands College, 2023

Southlands Methodist Trust ◆ Trustees’ Review 2022-23

Enhancing Methodist Education

The gathering provided a good opportunity to firm up initiatives which have emerged from IAMSCU, including the Methodist International Student Exchange Network, of which Roehampton is a significant institutional partner, and onto which a member of the university’s staff team was subsequently elected as a member of the Executive Board. It also included the Human Rights network, the emphasis of which on the experiences of native peoples will shape a planned IAMSCU conference in Gothenburg, Sweden, in August 2024, coinciding with the World Methodist Council, which will explore the theme of Hope, and which will receive support from the SMT, the Head of College and Director of the Susanna Wesley Foundation.

The Southlands Methodist Trust is a charity of the Methodist Church in Britain. Registered charity number 1100660 Southlands College 80 Roehampton Lane London SW14 5SL SWF@roehampton.ac.uk southlandsmethodisttrust.org.uk 020 8392 4462

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Southlands Methodist Trust ◆ Trustees’ Review 2022-23