Speech during Freshmen's Week
I would first of all like to welcome you all to the college
I know you have all worked hard in order to get here
And I hope you will find all your effort has been worthwhile
And that we will be able to help you achieve your ambitions as far as possible
Please make use of our facilities to the full
And if you are in any doubt of what we have to offer,
Please do not hesitate to ask,
I would like to make clear to you your part of the contract,
Which you must fulfil if you wish us to fulfil ours.
Learning,
As I'm sure you realise is a two way process
And without a significant investment from you,
All our efforts will come to nothing
Now,about class attendance.
You are required to attend 80% of classes.
If you do not do so,
We will not be able to give you a certificate of attendance
Should you require one for any particular purpose
In other words,
We will not regard you as having followed the course at all.
The compulsory courses are those classes you take in your assigned groups.
In a minute,
Mr. Lucas will tell you which group you are in.
The extra,
Individual work available in the laboratory or the computer room is,
Of course, optional.
In addition to classwork,
You are supposed to put in 3-4 hours a day of private study.
This year we have changed our methods of assessment,
In an effort to get away from the formal examination
And move towards a system which better reflects work done throughout the year.
You are required to hand in 5 pieces of written work as part of your final assessment
These you may choose from your class assignments
At the end of the course there will a formal examination consisting of 3 three-hour papers
You do not have to take the last of these
You can submit a 10,000 word extended essay instead
You should discuss the title of this with your tutor
You can obtain more details about the examination from your tutor
On a more practical note
We do not want to have too many rules and regulations
But for the sake of public safety and comfort there must be some
It is expressly forbidden to smoke in the classrooms as this poses a fire hazard
We also ask that you do not take food and drink into the classrooms
About your dorm
You are not permitted to put up overnight guests in your rooms
Similarly,
We can't allow you to entertain more than 5 guests during the day in your rooms
As this causes a disturbance
If you wish to hold larger parties
Please reserve the common room for that purpose
We hope that you will find these rules reasonable and enjoy your stay with us
I will now hand you back to Miss Johnson
Who will assign you to your groups.