Astrophoria Foundation Year Welfare Guidance

Aims 

The aims of this guidance are: 

• To outline the welfare support available to students through the Astrophoria Foundation Year programme 

• To outline what to do if you are concerned about the welfare of a student on the Astrophoria Foundation Year programme 

• To outline the confidentiality statement within the Astrophoria Foundation Year welfare support systems 

• To outline how data will be stored and shared for reporting purposes 

• To outline how long data will be stored. 

Purpose 

Welfare support is provided by the Astrophoria Foundation Year to ensure that students can thrive, grow and develop whilst on the Foundation Year programme and beyond. 

A major part of the welfare provision consists of enabling individuals to engage with professional support outside of the support offered directly by the Astrophoria Foundation Year. This means triaging and networking with the professional services available in colleges, in the University and NHS. It should not be the role of the Astrophoria Foundation Year welfare system to provide this professional support directly. 

Roles and responsibilities 

Within the Astrophoria Foundation Year, the key personnel are: 

• The Welfare Lead within the Astrophoria Foundation Year. 
  The Welfare Lead provides student welfare for all students in the Astrophoria Foundation Year.  They can be contacted on welfare@foundationyear.ox.ac.uk.   

• There will be times where students liaise with other colleagues around their welfare (including but not limited to the Foundation Year Director and Foundation Year Programme Manager, Academic Course teams, PUGS tutors, college staff and staff from other university services).  All staff have a responsibility to respond appropriately to any concerns raised. 

Working with Colleges, Departments and other University services 

The Astrophoria Foundation Year Programme has a commitment to working with staff from colleges, departments and staff from other university services.   

With student consent, information will be shared with named, relevant individuals in colleges, departments and other university services, to ensure that the student can be well supported.   

Staff working as part of the Foundation Year Programme, will support any common approaches that are shared by the university which relate to student welfare.  Examples are displayed below. 

• The common approach to mental health  

• The common approach to supporting disabled students

Working with Parents, Carers and Supporters 

1. Pre-entry enquiries 

Parents, carers, supporters and other third parties (for example, teachers, social workers and other professionals working with young people) often contact the Astrophoria Foundation Year, particularly at the admissions stage and during the transition period.  We are always happy to provide general information about the programme or welfare support that is available to third party enquirers.  General enquiries should be directed to contact@foundationyear.ox.ac.uk; specific queries relating to supporting student welfare should be directed to welfare@foundationyear.ox.ac.uk.

2. Enquiries regarding registered students 

Due to the confidential nature of our service and our legal obligations under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), we are only permitted to communicate directly with the student, unless we have received explicit written consent from the student to communicate with a parent or named carer. 

For this reason, we ask you to appreciate that we cannot disclose any information about a student to a third party, including a parent, carer or supporter, unless there are genuine Health and Safety concerns for the student.  More information can be found on the University website.  

Support available to students 

There is a wide range of support available to students, as outlined in the table below.    

Students who have a welfare concern should be encouraged to find a member of staff that they trust from any aspect of university life, so that they can be supported appropriately. 

* Students on the Astrophoria Foundation Year are members of several different colleges, each with different structures of welfare systems.  Students are encouraged to use their college websites and student handbooks to understand their college system, or to approach the Astrophoria Foundation Year Welfare Lead for support in accessing college services if they are unsure. 

Supporting student transitions at the end of the Foundation Year 

The Astrophoria Foundation Year has a commitment to supporting the transition of students from the Foundation Year into their Undergraduate programmes of study at the University of Oxford, and therefore away from the welfare provision of the Foundation Year and into the provision of college welfare support.  As part of this, there is provision for the following activities to occur, with additional transition support available with agreement between the Welfare leads of the Foundation Year and colleges. 

• Throughout the Foundation Year, ongoing communication, with consent from students, with key named welfare staff at college, so that the college is already aware of welfare issues facing the student. 

• Individual handover meetings scheduled during Trinity Term with welfare staff from college, supported by the welfare lead from the Foundation Year, to agree the structure of support for undergraduate studies and confirm the levels of support that the student has accessed during the Foundation Year. 

• Where appropriate, the offer of a limited number of 1:1 sessions with the Foundation Year Welfare Lead in Michaelmas Term of Year 1 of Undergraduate studies, where the student and college feel this would be beneficial. 

• The Foundation Year team commits to working with key individuals within the college to plan for occasions such as Fresher’s Week and Matriculation in Year 1, so that students are included with their peers in their first year as undergraduates. 

• Development of community and ambassador opportunities which enable students who wish to, to maintain links with the Foundation Year team. 

Students who decide not to continue to undergraduate studies at the University of Oxford will also have support with the transition onto their next endeavour.  

• For those continuing with education at an alternative Higher Education institution, this may involve liaising with the relevant welfare support services at their new institution, to share information at the request of the student.  

• For students who choose not to continue with higher education at this time, a bespoke transition support plan will be agreed with the individual.  This will be agreed during Trinity term of the Foundation Year, with input from the student, the Foundation Year Welfare Lead and the Foundation Year Director. 

How to raise a concern 

• Students are encouraged to talk to the Astrophoria Foundation Year Welfare Lead or another member of university staff if they need support, help or signposting around a specific welfare-related issue. 

• If parents, carers or supporters are concerned about a student, we recommend they encourage their students to talk to a member of university staff, if they need help during their time on the Astrophoria Foundation Year. 

Staff are recommended to follow the guidelines shared here when raising a concern about a student on the Astrophoria Foundation Year.  

Please note: 

• In line with the information set out in the Common Approach to Mental Health, the collegiate university is not expected to provide 24/7 or year-round mental health support for students. Our support sits along external organisations such as GPs, local mental health services and emergency hospital services which are available all year. This also includes organisations like the Samaritans and other services which are available 24/7 365 days per year. 

• With consent, information between named College and Foundation Year welfare leads will be shared to ensure that optimal support is available to students.  

• With welfare matters, there are rarely ‘quick fixes’.  There may be occasions where it takes a number of days or even weeks of support before a student feels that a matter is beginning to be addressed.

Confidentiality within Student Welfare in the Astrophoria Foundation Year 

The Astrophoria Foundation Year follows the University’s policy on confidentiality in student health and welfare, as set out in a document authored by the University’s Committee on Student Health and Welfare, available as a PDF on the University’s website.

The Astrophoria Foundation Year recognises the same practical and legal obligations as set out in the University document.  

In all cases, the duty of confidence is not absolute and may normally be overridden in circumstances where there is an overwhelming public interest or legal obligation to do so.  

Information given in confidence by a student will, as a general rule, be treated in a confidential manner. This would include information about a student's physical or mental health or financial circumstances. Disclosure of such information will be on a need-to-know basis. 

Concern for confidentiality need not, and should not, prevent communication necessary to help students in difficulty. This statement on confidentiality is being made available to students, staff and parents to provide reassurance to students but also to clarify the limits of confidentiality. 

Safeguarding 

The Astrophoria Foundation Year follows the University’s policy on safeguarding, as set out in a document authored by the University’s Committee, available on the University website.

The Astrophoria Foundation Year recognises the same practical and legal obligations as set out in the University document. 

Data storage 

Minimal records of welfare information will be held confidentially and securely on our database in the Astrophoria Foundation Year for 6 years from the end of your time on the Astrophoria Foundation Year and then destroyed. 

This may include: 

• Records of referrals received about student concerns and any recommendations or referrals completed  

• Where students have completed evaluations relating to a group/workshop that they have attended as part of the provision of welfare by the Astrophoria Foundation Year 

Further details can be found in the Astrophoria Foundation Year Student Welfare – Privacy Notice. 

Data reporting 

• With written consent from a student, information relating to them which is held on the Welfare Database, can be shared with a student’s college or department.   

• Anonymised high-level data will be shared annually with the Foundation Year Steering Group.  This will never include specific case details but may share broad areas or themes of welfare need which are emerging within specific cohorts; allow comparisons of the welfare needs of one cohort compared with another; or compared with national anonymised statistics.

Relevant policies from other areas of the University are linked where appropriate within this page.