Every month, we like to do a short recap piece of everything that has happened at your Students’ Union that month. October has been yet another super busy month, with lots going on for you to get stuck into, find your feet as a new student or start to find your sense of belonging at University.

This month we have had our Wellbeing Week, hosted by your Support Zone and VP Support, Jenny. We’ve also seen the first ever Cost of Living Week, created by your VP Community, Amber – helping you to make the most of your money and find the relevant support whilst at University as we know the current living crisis can be tough.

Amongst these two dedicated weeks, we have also had a whole range of different events available to you. Whether you’re a new student, returning student, postgraduate student or mature student, there has been something on offer to everyone.

Here are a few of our highlights:

Your Belonging -

• Ran 16 Belonging Events across the whole of the month. We restarted our weekly Union Creates events over at Manor Park Social, so make sure to check those out too, especially if you're based on the Manor Park campus.

• Organised two incredible Union Trips, including a trip to Cambridge and Bath. Hear about Arshia’s experience in Bath here!

• Continued the momentum from a hugely successful Freshers' Week at Rubix, with several highly anticipated nights including VK Party, Oktoberfest and Halloween.

• Relaunched the Black Sport Collective events including a Barbershop and a joint event at Surrey Sports Park, with a range of different sporting taster sessions on offer.

Your Support -

• Ran and organised the first ever Cost of Living Week to help support you through the first semester at University. We know that being a student in the current living circumstances can be a challenge, but we are always here to support you. Click here for more information.

• Hosted an incredibly successful Wellbeing Week with 12 different events on offer to you, including Dog Therapy, Cat Therapy with Dr No, Self-Defence Workshops and the infamous WellFair.

 Your Education -

• Achieved one of our Union Priorities, with the University publishing a new action plan setting out how assessment and feedback would be improved. Find out more here!

• Course Rep elections with over 350 students nominating themselves to become a Course Rep. During the voting period hundreds of new Reps were elected and are now in post ready to represent you to the wider University leadership team.

 Your Voice -

• Saw over 200 of you apply to be part of the Student Equality Networks, with 6 new part-time leaders now on board! Our new leaders are now planning for upcoming campaigns such as Islamophobia Awareness Month and International Students Week.

• Hosted the first Union Forum of the year, with all your Sabbatical Officers and Part-Time Student Officers in attendance, discussing important updates and raising any concerns you may have to your Union Officers.

 Your Future -

• Relaunched Destination Success, and had a really successful Train the Trainer session where we trained up the newest group of student trainers to run our free employability workshops! Find out more about Destination Success or book onto an upcoming workshop here.

• Started our Club Culture Sessions with all clubs and societies, designed to help all members create welcoming, inclusive and positive club environments.

Your Union -

• Held our second Union2U event at the Hive on Stag Hill, giving students opportunities to meet their elected officers and wider Union team. We’ll be heading to three more locations in semester one, so make sure to stop by and say hi.

We’re incredibly proud of everything we have achieved throughout October, and can’t wait to show you everything else that we have coming up for you in the next few months! Thank you to all of you for actively engaging with your Union, there’s lots more to come so make sure you follow along and get involved in all the fun events and activities we have to offer.

Follow us on our social media pages to see what we have in store! Surrey Union, Manor Park Social & Rubix.