Hi, I’m Katy

The key priorities for this area are focused on induction and transition support for foundation year students, to aid their sense of belonging in the Keele community and to improve retention. I've worked at Keele for over 5 years in various areas of student support.

Key Achievements

Induction and Transition

An enhanced induction and transition package of support for Foundation Year students was developed and delivered. This included a pre-arrival session, transition handbook, introduction to student support and transition to year 1 of HE.

Peer Mentoring

A pilot peers mentoring programme tailored specifically for Foundation Year students has been implemented. By using a digital communication platform, this has enabled students to have easy access to peer support and helping them to expand their social networks within Keele to aid feelings of community and belonging.

Wellbeing Workshops

A series of wellbeing workshop sessions have been created. Due to the impacts of Covid restrictions, these sessions were adapted in a format so that students can access the materials virtually, and have been designed in such a way that students can work through the activities at their own pace, to allow the opportunity for individual reflection and action planning.

What’s Next

As pilot interventions have now been completed for the Foundation Year, work is now underway to complete further evaluation of the impact that these initiatives have had. Plans are already in place for the future sustainability of project work, through the introduction of new student support and experience roles being recruited at Keele, meaning that recommendations from the project research will be embedded within future support provision at the university.