We pride ourselves on being a Union that students and our stakeholders can trust and rely upon, and being an organisation that staff and volunteers want to be a part of.
Doing our bit for the environment
We're Excellent
We were once again awarded ‘Excellent’ in NUS Green Impact, making us one of the top twenty SU’s in the UK, and obtained a higher audit score than the previous year.
Our first batch of compost
Last year we were successful in getting an industrial composter and in June 2019 we held the ceremonial opening of the first batch of compost made with our food waste from Canterbury Christ Church University.
This diverted 4,333L of food waste away from landfill and created 900L of compost which is being used on Christ Church’s Wellbeing Garden.
To enable this we created an Eco Students Society who dedicated 152 volunteer hours to running the composter during the year.
Getting our message out there
Communication and Transparency
It is no good being good if nobody knows it. As a membership organisation it is even more important we are effective at two-way communication with all students at Christ Church to remain relevant to student life.
Our Website
CCSU.co.uk recorded 157,000 visits with over 515,000 page views.
Twitter
We tweeted 1191 times over the year and our tweets were viewed over 1.1 million times!
Facebook
Our posts on Facebook had a reach of over 850,000, which was a drop on the previous year, but echoes a trend of students moving away from the platform towards Instagram etc.
Recognising Excellence
Sports Federation Dinner
We had a record 521 students attend the annual Sports Federation Dinner at the Margate Winter Gardens, celebrating another successful year for #TeamChristChurch. This was a 16% increase on the previous year’s attendance.
The first ever Student Opportunities Awards took place in April 2019 with over 140 students attending. This event was a fusion of the Volunteering Awards and the Student Activities Awards and delivered in partnership between the Union and University.
Fundraising
Raise and Give (RaG) raised £11,750 for good causes.
PEOPLE DEVELOPMENT
Great People
Great organisations are made by great people and volunteers – our people are at the heart of Christ Church Students’ Union. Great people deserve reward, recognition, development and celebration.
Strategic Plan
We refreshed the organisation’s strategic plan via new student, staff, and stakeholder research and sense-checking. This re-affirmed the Union’s Vision, Mission, Ambition, and Values as well as updating the stated five strategic themes and five strategic enablers to create Your Union Plan 2019-22.
Staff Organisation Change
We embedded the Staff Organisation Change from May 2018 with the new staff structure, including the recruitment of a Deputy CEO and successfully outsourcing the Union’s finance function.
360° appraisals
The Sabbatical Leadership Team all participated in an externally facilitated 360° appraisal, a first for CCSU, to inform their current and future development.
Our aim is that the officers not only develop their skills whilst working at CCSU but also take on qualities to help them in their future.
FINANCIALLY SOUND
INCOME 2018/19
Grant from the University: including £53k of ‘in kind’ rent – £761,360
Commercial: Sponsorship, Club Chemistry agreement, TOTUM cards, etc. – £42,043
