What's open during BU's winter break

Talbot Campus as viewed from an upper floor of Poole House

Over the winter break we close down most of our campus to reduce our environmental impact and ensure our buildings are secure. For those areas we’re closing, we will shut down at 1pm on Friday 23 December and re-open at 8am on Tuesday 3 January 2023. This applies to all areas other than those listed below. 

If you do use any BU facilities over the holidays and experience or notice any issues with buildings or facilities, please inform the member of staff in Poole House or Bournemouth Gateway Building receptions who can let our Estates team know. If you are involved in, or witness an emergency on campus, call 01202 962222. 

Please also check our cost of living support page for resources both on and off campus, along with our Covid FAQs page for more useful information. 

Facilities open during the holidays are: 

Open Access Centre

The Open Access Centre and reception area in Poole House (Talbot Campus) will be open 24/7 throughout the holiday.  You can book space in the usual way through the myPC booking system. 

Off-campus access to computers 

Over the festive period, you will still be able to connect to a BU computer to access the software and applications you need using the VMware Horizon or VPN services for your work or studies. 

Libraries 

The Sir Michael Cobham Library on Talbot Campus will be closed from 1pm on Friday 23 December and will reopen at 8am on Tuesday 3 January. The Weston Library, on the ground floor of the new Bournemouth Gateway Building on Lansdowne Campus, will be open 24/7 throughout the vacation period.  

Library staff will be operating an online chat service for students who need support until 1pm on Friday 23 December. The library out-of-hours service (01202 965959) is then available to answer basic library queries throughout the vacation. Our online chat service will reopen at 9am on Tuesday 3 January – see our opening times webpage for the latest updates.   

New monitors: On the ground floor of The Sir Michael Cobham Library we now have eight large screens for you to dock your laptops into. There’s no need to book - just turn up and plug in. There’s also a wealth of subject-specific information on our library guides on Brightspace with links to online library resources and course reading lists, as well as more general library information on our webpages.  

IT services 

There will be no live chat service on the IT Services Portal from 1pm on Friday 23 December, and any self-service tickets logged on the portal will be looked at once the university reopens on Tuesday 3 January. However, the IT Service Desk phone lines remain open over the festive closure period (call 01202 965515 or freephone 0808 196 2332). From 1pm on Friday 23 December to 8am on 3 January, you will be transferred to the Out of Hours team to help with basic IT issues, who will escalate any major issues to on-call staff at BU to action as necessary, so please continue to report any issues you come across.

Faith & Reflection

Muslim prayer facilities will continue to be available on Talbot Campus during the holiday closure period in P221 and P226, which are located in Poole House. Please report to reception on arrival and show your ID card. We have placed a sanitising station outside the rooms for you to use and a visitor book to log your visit. 

Further information regarding Faith and Reflection activities can be found on the BU website. 

AskBU 

AskBU will be open until 1pm on Friday 23 December, the service will then be closed for the winter break and will reopen on 9am on Tuesday 3 January. During this time, you can access AskBU's online FAQs. Check the service opening hours for the first week of January 2023.

Student welfare and support

Student Wellbeing will be closed from 4pm on Friday 16 December and will reopen on Monday 9 January at 9am. During the week commencing Monday 19 December and the week commencing Tuesday 3 January, there will be a reduced, remote service operating for planned appointments. You will still be able to submit self-referral forms to the service and contact us via email, however, the response time may be longer than usual. We will be closed completely during the week of 26 December, so no referrals or emails will be checked during this time.

The Achieve team will be closed from 1pm on Friday 23 December until 8am on Tuesday 3 January 2023.

If you need wellbeing support over the winter break, you can call our Student Assistance Programme, Health Assure, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to speak to a trained counsellor or adviser. The team can offer emotional and practical support on a variety of issues.

Depending on your circumstances you may also wish to contact the following organisations: Shelter on 0344 515 2000 for housing support, the Samaritans on 116 123 for personal support, the NHS 111 (for physical and mental health support) or The Retreat at Hahnemann House, Bournemouth town centre. 

Please also see the online resources section below. 

For urgent welfare issues, BU’s Welfare Duty Officers are on call and can be contacted by calling 01202 962222. 

Medical Centre 

The on-campus medical centre will close at 5pm on Friday 16 December and will reopen on Monday 9 January at 8.45am. If you need medical advice, you can:

  • Speak to a local pharmacy for minor illnesses 
  • Call NHS 111 
  • Call Talbot Medical Centre in Wallisdown, 63 Kinson Road, BH10 4BX on 01202 636400 
  • Download the NHS App
  • If it is an emergency please call 999
  • For emergency contraception please contact Sexual Health Dorset on 0300 303 1948.

Accommodation

Residential Services and LettingsBU will be closed from 1pm on Friday 23 December and will reopen at 9am on Tuesday 3 January. The teams will not be responding to emails or telephone calls during this time.  

  • If you are a first-year student living in one of BU's halls of residence, you will have a site-based member of staff available 24/7 for all enquiries over the period. Your accommodation team should have sent you out who to contact over the Christmas and New Year period but you can also call or go to the hall's main reception desk for assistance.
  • If you are living in St Johns, Unilet, Student Village or a university-managed LettingsBU property, you should continue to use your usual out of hours support. If you are unsure, please call 01202 965001 for assistance. 
  • If you are living in any other private student accommodation, you should have been given contact details to call by your landlord, agent or halls of residence provider. If you are yet to receive these, please contact your accommodation provider directly. 

ResLifeBU - If you are staying in one of BU's student halls of residence, the Student Village or a Unilet property over Christmas and New Year, the ResLifeBU team has activities lined up for you and has set up a LinkTree to let you know what you can get involved with.  

For emergency situations, please call the main BU emergency number 01202 962222. 

SportBU

SportBU will be closed from Friday 23 December at 1pm (last entry 12.30pm) for the winter break and will reopen at 7.15am on Tuesday 3 January.

University Music  

All music facilities will be unavailable from 1pm on Friday 23 December until Tuesday 3 January. We will respond to enquiries via [email protected] when the university re-opens in January.  

Future Students Enquiries  

The Future Students Enquiry Team service will be closed for the winter break from 12pm on Friday 23 December and will reopen at 9am on Tuesday 3 January.

Vacation bus services

A reduced vacation bus service will operate during the university closure period. Please check www.unibuses.co.uk/vacation-service-dates for details.  

Bus services operated by Morebus will continue to run over the Christmas period, if you need to travel to either campus. Please visit their webpages for more detailed timetable information.

Online resources 

While the university services are closed over the winter break, you may find the following external services helpful if you need immediate support:  

Returning to BU

As we prepare for re-opening the campus on Tuesday 3 January 2023, we will notify you if there is a weather warning for ice and snow. We will endeavour to open the campuses for business as usual, however, if weather and travel conditions are severe, updates will be posted on Twitter, Facebook, the university website, Brightspace and by email to your university accounts. You can also call BU’s Information Line – 01202 968999 – which will provide regular recorded updates in the event of adverse weather. Please be aware that the campuses will remain open unless otherwise notified.