Check list

• Completed your online enrolment by the end of September
• Filled in the Digital Literacy questionnaire
• Considered how you will manage & structure your study time (outside of the teaching sessions) and ensure you have resources to help you succeed
• If appropriate looked at aspects of the Open University Succeeding in Postgraduate Study course
• Visit the Chaplaincy Programme Newman Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) called Moodle with helpful information on wide range of support available – You will need to have successfully enrolled to access this
• Attended the Online session on Wednesday 23rd September
• Confirm that you have received your ID card in the post before Friday 10th October

Online Welcome

• Wednesday 23rd  September
• 19:00 – 20:00

The session will only be an hour and will give you the opportunity to meet the Team and those who you will studying alongside.

We hope that we will also have some former students who will provide some top tips and be available to answer any questions you may have. 

Details of how to join the Welcome session are below:

• Meeting ID: 327 403 516 863 742
• Passcode: Uk7GG98Z

Digital Literacy & Study Check

As part of this course relies on access to resources, teaching content and live sessions over the internet we would like to find out how confident you are about your own digital literacy.

Click on the link to open the form, your answers will help both you and us to navigate your way through the course:

Succeeding in Postgraduate Study  

Whilst returning to study is exciting it can also be a shock to the system, especially for busy people, like Chaplains.

This Postgraduate course has been created to offer support along the way which includes individual tutorial sessions, input and sessions from Library colleagues and also from Learning Development.   

The Open University have a free online course entitled ‘Succeeding in postgraduate study’ it begins to help you understand what is required studying at this level and begins to help you consider helpful ways to :

Research and work out what are reliable sources

• Develop your critical thinking
• Read and Write critically
• Reflect

Over the next few weeks, we advise you dip in and out of this course (the full course takes 24 hours and all of it is useful):

Pre-reading for Weekend 1

There will be some reading that we will need you to complete before the weekend and you will be able to access it after the Welcome session, as long as you have completed your online enrolment.    

Recommended Reading 

In the meantime these two books are good starting points. Both are available in our Library in hardcopy and as ebooks, which you will be able to access once you are enrolled. Should you wish to purchase them then the prices* are indicated below.

• Threlfall-Holmes, M. & Newitt, M (2011) Being a Chaplain London: SPCK  (Price – £10.59 new, £4.32 second-hand*)
• Cobb, M.; Swift, C. & Todd, A. (2015) A Handbook of Chaplaincy Studies: Understanding Spiritual Care in Public Places Farnham: Ashgate (Price – £45.97new, £25.22 second-hand*) 

*prices for purchasing new taken from Amazon, and for secondhand taken from AbeBooks. correct on 3rd June 2026.  

Accommodation

For those of you travelling from further afield and needing somewhere to stay over the weekend, please don’t hesitate to get in touch for advice or guidance on available options and areas to consider. In some cases, it may be possible to book accommodation directly through the University. If you’re interested in this, please contact: accommodation@newman.ac.uk.

Throughout the programme we will be alongside you to support and guide you through your studies and our systems.

This will start on the first weekend with an introduction to our digital systems and working to ensure you have access. We will also be joined by colleagues from the Library who will lead a session on how to read, reference and make best use of all that the Library offers. They will rejoin us on our January weekend with further support on accessing Journals amongst other things.

Support and access to academic writing skills, digital skills and the teams who specialise in these will be available to you along the way including via helpful videos.

IMPORTANT: Please bring your photo ID with you on this date to complete enrolment.

Our first weekend will be

• Saturday 10th October (9:00 – 18:00)*
• Sunday 11th October (9:.30 – 14:30)  

The subsequent weekend dates are:

• Saturday 28th November (10:00 – 18:00)
• Sunday 29th November (9:30 – 14:30)
• Saturday 23rd January (10:00 – 18:00)
• Sunday 24th January (9:30 – 14:30)
• Saturday 13th March (10:00 – 18:00)
• Sunday 14th March (9:30 – 14:30)
• Saturday 15th May (10:00 – 18:00)
• Sunday 16th May (9:30- 14:30)

*Please note that weekend 1 Saturday is a 9:00 start and all others start at 10:00 

You will need your ID badge to access the campus so please make sure you have completed enrolment and have received it in the post before the first teaching weekend.

Before each weekend you will be expected to have engaged in the content and activities on Moodle (Newman’s Virtual Learning Environment), available to you after enrolment. Therefore, you need to make time before each weekend to watch the videos and complete the activities  

As there are only 5 on campus weekends, we strongly advise that you attend all on face-to-face sessions at Birmingham Newman. During the weekends you will both be able to discuss the content you have completed, engage with new materials and knowledge and apply this to your own chaplaincy experience alongside that of others on the course.

At the end of the teaching there will be a mandatory individual tutorial which will normally happen on the Sunday or if not at some point over the following five days.

There will also be optional individual tutorial opportunities with the teaching team in between weekends.  

Helen Bardy

Helen is the Programme Lead for the Chaplaincy courses at Newman. Her role is split between two areas: half of her time is dedicated to supporting the Foundation Year, while the other half focuses on teaching and leading the Chaplaincy programmes. She also brings valuable research experience in the field of School Chaplaincy.

Margaret Holland

Margaret is the University Chaplain at Newman and leads the Chaplaincy team. She also contributes part-time to the Chaplaincy Programme and brings valuable research experience in the area of School Chaplaincy.