All you need to know about Welcome Month

Are you as excited for Welcome Month as we are?

We know you're going to have a lot of questions, so we hope these answer your main questions about what Welcome Month will look like this year.

What will Welcome Month look like this year?

UPSU will be hosting a wide variety of different events and activities across Welcome Month and beyond this academic year and we are excited to have students back and able to visit us on campus in Portsmouth. 

We know that although a lot of you will be very keen to be back to the ‘in person’ experience; others will be nervous about large events or being around a lot of people again, and some may not be able to get to campus straight away. As a result, we’ve designed a welcome programme that has a mixture of both physical and digital activities that you can get involved in. The physical events will range in size from smaller, more intimate activities and events that are larger in scale so we hope there will be something on the programme to suit everyone. We’re here to help you have a brilliant start to your university experience this year and we can’t wait to see you at some of our events over the upcoming term.

You can find out more about all of the events and activities that we are putting on for you on our What’s On page.

What will Freshers Fayre look like this year?

Will there even be a Freshers' Fayre? Yes!

We are incredibly pleased to be delivering both a physical and digital Freshers’ Fayre this year, so every student has the opportunity to attend, whether in Portsmouth or not.

Digital Freshers' Fayre

You can access our Digital Freshers’ Fayre here between Monday 4th and Friday 8th October.

Physical Freshers' Fayre

Our ‘in person’ Freshers’ Fayre will look a little bit different this year and will be spread across 5 days (4th - 8th October) in order to ensure as many students as possible have the opportunity to visit what will be a less crowded site than in previous years. 

In order to ensure our students and staff are as safe as possible when attending this event in the ongoing pandemic situation, we will need to ensure that less people are on site at any one time and that extra health and safety measures are put in place for the event. 

Guidance for visiting Freshers' Fayre and other Welcome Month Events

We ask that attendees please familiarise themselves with the following event information/guidance before attending Freshers Fayre:

• Please do not attend the event if you are experiencing any symptoms of Covid-19 including; high temperature; a new, continuous cough; or the loss or change of sense of taste or smell, or if you have been told to self isolate or quarantine. (If you are unable to attend in person you will still be able to access our digital Freshers’ Fayre!)
• Attendees will be required to provide contact details for the purposes of track and trace - this can be done either by scanning in via the NHS Covid-19 App or by providing contact details on entrance to the event. Please have your phone ready to scan in with our QR code, or your student card so staff can take your details as you enter if you do not have the NHS app.
• We recommend that all attendees wear a face covering in any more crowded areas of Freshers’ Fayre. This includes inside the Marquees and if using toilet facilities or visiting the Union Shop. There will be lots of hand sanitiser points available on site, please use these as well regularly as you move around the event.
• We also recommend that all students follow the University guidance on regular covid testing - you can collect lateral flow testing kits at all of the MyPort Hub locations and the Library.
• We ask that you please help us to give as many students the opportunity to visit the Fayre as possible this year. Once you’ve had the chance to visit all the stalls you want, please head off and explore more of the campus and local community, who will all be looking forward to welcoming you all back as well. If the Freshers’ Fayre site starts getting too crowded we will have to pause entry temporarily - please keep moving and allow all your fellow students to get involved too :) 
• To make this an inclusive event, there will not be an on site bar this year, but please do visit the nearby city centre and its many venues to go and enjoy a drink with friends after, if this is your thing! We ask you to not bring your own alcohol on site to the event and to just enjoy the vibe and pick up all the freebies that will be available for you. If you try to enter the event with alcohol, you may be turned away.
• There will be multiple exit points on site at the Fayre to ensure we keep foot traffic moving, however we ask that you please try and leave the event through the main exit at the rear of the site to ensure we can keep things moving at the entrance point.

Thank you in advance for helping make Freshers' Fayre and all other Welcome Month events a safe and enjoyable to all!

We can't wait to see you!