Welcome to the latest newsletter
It only seems like two minutes since Summer and we’re already well into Autumn, the weather has turned cooler and the shops have wasted no time in assaulting us with Christmas displays… far too early for that if you ask me!
The network may have been quiet over the summer but there’s been lots happening behind the scenes, the most surprising event was the unexpected arrival of our co-chair Kate’s newest addition, Matilda…a whole month early! Kate and Matilda spent a few days in Jessops but were soon home and both are doing well.
Ruth Feather has kindly agreed to step in as acting co-chair while Kate is on maternity leave and has wasted no time in getting stuck in, Ruth recently attended a presentation at Anglia Ruskin University about moving towards carer friendly universities and you can find a link to her blog post in the newsletter below.
Emma Morris
Co-chair of the Parent and Carer Network
New Blog Post: Towards a carer friendly university
Earlier this year Professor Marie-Pierre Moreau published a report funded by the Society on Higher Education looking at the experiences of senior academics with care-giving responsibilities at 17 different institutions across the UK. The findings were presented at an event at ARU and Ruth Feather went along to find out more. Read Ruth’s blog post here
Work Life Balance Week
Our network champion, Chris Wigginton wrote an informative blog post about work/life balance and the various initiatives and resources available at SHU aimed at improving work/life balance and the health and wellbeing of its employees.
- The university has a flexible working policy and the Flexible Working Group has an objective to develop a strategic position on flexible working and is aiming to launch a flexible working toolkit and access to a range of case studies in the coming months.
- Access to wellbeing resources – from dealing with stress to the 5 ways for wellbeing
- A useful guide to work/life balance
- Talk to someone – One to One support
Additional resources for parents and carers are available in the form of the Parents and Carers reading list and Buddy scheme.
Top tips for improving your work/life balance
- Finish work on time
- Take a lunch break (preferably outside)
- Go for a walk – invite your colleagues and make it social
- Set some healthy eating and exercise challenges
Reading List online
We are pleased to announce that we have been working with colleagues in the library to compile a reading list for parents and carers and all the books are available for you to borrow from the library. If you think are additional books or articles that you think would be useful, please let us know and we can liaise with the library.
The reading list can be found here
Buddy Bear Giveaway!
We will be doing a prize draw for one of our Buddy Bears! All subscribers will be added to the draw each time we send out a newsletter so please make sure you tell your colleagues about the network and get them to subscribe!
If you would like to join the network and receive regular updates, please email shuparentsandcarers@shu.ac.uk to subscribe.
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