Hey Roehampton Students!

I want to tell you a bit about a year-long project that I have been working on: Keeping Wednesday Afternoons Free.

To give you a little background, in the context of BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport), the phrase “Keep Wednesday Afternoons Free” refers to a widespread policy across UK universities where Wednesday afternoons are left free from scheduled teaching – eg. lectures, seminars, or compulsory academic activities - so that students can participate in sports competitions, as well as other extra-curricular activities, such as Wellbeing Wednesday activities.

Back in the summer of 2024,

I met with our PVC of Education to discuss the possibility of reserving Wednesday afternoons free of teaching for our undergraduate students, which she was more than happy to support.

That said, over the past academic year we were able to reserve Wednesday afternoons free for the majority of our undergraduates.

As a result of this, there are now 1,300+ students taking part in sport on Wednesday afternoons, whether that be competitive sport, intramural sports, or social sport.

In addition to this, we also implemented Wellbeing Wednesdays, an offering of various activities each week aimed to support student well-being for those who do not take part in sport.

Furthermore,

after a year of Wellbeing Wednesdays, our end of year Big SU Survey has concluded that students are in great favour of Wellbeing Wednesdays. I have great plans to enhance and improve our Wednesday offerings for the upcoming academic year!

Survey Results:

As a result of all the positive feedback, the Timetabling Team has been requested to avoid scheduling classes outside of Wednesday afternoons for the 2025 – 2026 academic year!

This means that 85 – 90% of our undergraduate students will have Wednesday afternoons free. 

I have also managed to get the university to add ‘Student Athlete’ to the eligibility criteria for timetable changes, meaning that if you are a student who plays sport and you have classes on Wednesday Afternoons, you can now change classes to be able to play sport!

So long story short:

• Students no longer will have to choose between sport or academic commitments. 
• It is most likely, as an undergraduate student, you will have Wednesday afternoons free.
• And if you do not have Wednesday afternoons free - you can change your timetable so that it works for you!

Thank you to everyone who was involved in making these changes, I am looking forward to another great year 😊