Pastoral support

All students at Newnham, both undergraduates and postgraduates, are assigned a Tutor who is responsible for their general welfare and is the first port of call for help and advice relating to the College. Each Tutor has responsibility for normally no more than 40 students. Undergraduate students are allocated to Tutors whose own teaching and research is in a different subject area to their own. 

All Tutors have access to rooms in College to see their students privately and to discuss matters with them in confidence. The role of the Tutor is to provide all-round support and guidance on any aspect of student life, including personal welfare, financial support available, wellbeing issues and also to provide links to additional sources of support where appropriate.

You will meet your Tutor in Freshers’ Week (undergraduates) or during the first term (postgraduates). Cambridge, like any institution, can be confusing to navigate, but your Tutor will have experience of the system and be on hand to provide advice on any issue, from wellbeing or financial concerns, to filling in paperwork. Tutors are an invaluable resource, and it’s important to keep them in the loop if your circumstances change or any difficulties arise.

Tutors meet with their undergraduate students every term. They are a student’s main point of contact with the College on many issues, and listed below are some of the ways in which they regularly provide help:

• Introducing and welcoming new students to Cambridge and College life.
• Transition to University life.
• Confidential discussions of general wellbeing and signposting to appropriate services
• Provision of advice on financial issues – budgeting, hardship, delayed loan payments, funding opportunities.
• Examinations – special arrangements for examinations, appeals/complaints.
• Workload and time management.
• Support in the event of difficulties with courses or supervisors (however, tutors do not provide academic support).

The College Nurse, Julie Barker, and the College Wellbeing Advisor, Hiruni Cox, are based on the ground floor of the Pfeiffer Building, where the waiting room serves as an information hub.

More details on Health & Wellbeing, including how to book an appointment, can be found here.

Any student can speak to the Advisor to Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Students. She is available to talk to BME and non-BME students with general or specific concerns relating to race and minority ethnic backgrounds. The Advisor is currently Professor Manali Desai.

Newnham was founded as a non-denominational College (‘for all religions and none’), and we therefore do not have a Chapel. Newnham members are welcome to attend services at Selwyn Chapel (just over the road), and their Chaplain, Rev Dr Arabella Milbank Robinson, can provide pastoral support for Newnham students.