Winchester Students' Union, the voice of 7,800 demonstrated by student lead campaigns that make a real difference on campus and in the wider community, each one of our campaigns has contributed to improving the student experience at Winchester
 

Commercial Zone campaigns

Sip Smart, Stay Safe & Look After Your Mate

Nights out can be a big part of student life and your Students' Union prides itself in having the safest late night venue in Winchester. We want to help keep you as safe as possible whilst drinking so you can have the most fun!

We have compiled a guide on how to keep you and your friends safe when drinking. Click here for more.

Activities Zone campaigns

The Power of Participation

We wanted to highlight the importance of Activity Groups at the University of Winchester, this year we have focussed on the sense of belonging and engagement opportunities that our Activity Groups provide our students. We wanted to explore the positive impact that our Activity Groups have on the student experience and conducted and produced an interview style campaign called the Power of Participation showcasing how activity groups enhance the student experience.

 

Diversifying Sport

During 2022 we introduced our Diversifying Sport campaign. As our yearly demographic reports on participation within our sports teams showed that participation of all demographics were not where we would like them to be – this campaign aimed to break down barriers, stereotypes, and limits that may prevent people from getting involved in sports. We are running this campaign to ensure that everyone feels included and represented when participating in sport - as they should do.

 

We focused particularly on Gender Identity, Gender Stereotypes, Sexuality and Identity, Disability, Mental Health, and Race in sports –to break down barriers, stereotypes, and limits that may prevent people from getting involved in sports.

 

Throughout March, the campaign saw the distribution of pronoun badges to all sports teams, to normalise the non-assumption of pronouns, provided Rainbow Laces so our teams can Lace up and Speak Up, distributed ‘Show Racism the Red Card’ wristbands and encouraged our sports teams to wear red – and most importantly, went out and spoke to our students about these topics.

 

Find out more here.

 

Movember

We also participate in Movember each November! We host an annual Fun Run at Bar End Sports Stadium where you put on your best fancy dress and come take part! We aim to complete 60km in total for the 60 men we lose to suicide each hour, to raise money for the charity.

We also host a Movember BOP takeover - grab a free moustache on your way in and support the campaign!

This year, we cleared our Movember fundraising target by miles, raising £7,071! We'd like to thank all of the teams for their incredible hard work!

Rainbow Laces

We believe that sport should be safe and welcoming for everyone. By lacing up you're sending the powerful message that your club is a safe space for every member to be themselves, and you actively support LGBTQ+ inclusion.

We have uploaded different colourways of the rainbow laces logo, and icons that you can download and use on your social media pages to show your support, they can be downloaded here!

If you would like to show your individual support, you can purchase rainbow laces directly from Stonewall here

Education Zone campaigns

Speak Week

Every year we aim to gather as much feedback as possible, and this year we did so through Speak Week! We hosted various pop-ups on campus, and went out to gather feedback from students!

AI Guidance

We have been working hard last year to ensure that some guidance on AI usage is published to students. After hosting some Focus Groups to hear from students, we are proud to see that AI guidance has been published, available on Canvas.

PACE & Save Self-Cert

Our Vice President, Education & Welfare, has been taking part in the University's Policy and Compliance Evolution (PACE) project. As part of this, concerns were raised over the potential removal of the current self-certification process, in favour of a process requiring students to state a reason for their self-cert. In order to emphasise how important the current self-cert process is to students, we gathered feedback from 184 students in favour of self-certs, and presented this to the University.

 

Welfare Zone campaigns

Sex & Safety

The 11-15th December 2023 was Sex & Safety Week! The aim of this week was to hilight the importance of consent and safety in intimate relationships. We ran pop-ups and giveaways all week which were available to all students. Students could come along to our GPs and Healthcare Professionals pop-up, Police and Site Security pop-up, free condoms, lube, pregnancy testts and personal safety alarms!

Energy Saving

With the rising cost of living, we aimed to educate students on energy efficiency, both on how to save money and reduce energy consumption! We hosted energy saving pop-ups in March and April, containing information on housing advice, quizzes, tips, and a 'decorate a piggybank' free activity. Over 136 students attended the pop ups. and if you missed out, don't worry, we have some energy saving takeaway cards outside the SU offices (Level 3 of the KAC).

 

Digital Detox

We understand that as students, screen time is inevitable, particularly during assignment season! To help combat some of the negative effects of screen time, the Students’ Union have compiled together the following tips: 

 

General Union campaigns

One Winchester

As part of our Equality and Diversity work at Wincheter, One Winchester was launched in 2022.  This is a platform to highlight different student groups, inclusivity, as well as create a platform for us all to come together as a Winchester community. Find out more here.

Cost of Living

Amidst the cost of living crisis, we have been working to reduce the burden on students and provide food, transport, and more to you all. Find out more about everything we do here.

SUggestions

SU Suggestions (SUggetsions) is a platform to ensure we are truly student led. This online platform allows you as students to put forwards ideas on how the SU can improve the student experience.  This could include campaign ideas, something you want to see changed or implemented or your voice towards policy, procedure, and life on campus. Simply pop in an idea and your student body and upvote or downvote. This will be taken to our Executive Committee and even become a motion for Student Senate. 

Independent Living

Independent Living, the new campaign with an aim to support incoming students with living away from home for the first time. We all attend University with different life experiences - and that’s okay! For many students this will be their first time living alone and having to manage all aspects of living by themselves. This campaign aims to support this by providing students to access information about living independently on a variety of Students’ Union resources.