Five Things for a Friday

Five Things For Welcome Week

Fri, 04 Sep 2026 09:44:06 +0100

Welcome Week is here

This week the office has been buzzing with a hive of activity - societies, sports clubs, students interns, content creators, sabbaticals and staff members all working together to make Welcome Week one of the best yet. Our Events and Campaigns Manager Zsuzsanna Toth and her team of students have produced a great first week (and first trimester) for you. (Note to self - need more space!)

Society support increases

Societies have more support this year to help strengthen the societies we have and help you create some new ones. Speak to Kiera Lay, our new staff member, or sabbatical Emeka. That means Craig Stephen can now concentrate on Sports Development with Megan Robertson and sabbatical Austen. We will all be at the Welcome Fair on Tuesday during Welcome Week, as will all the Sports Clubs and Societies looking for new members. Sports Clubs and Societies are a great way to make new friends and take your mind off that degree when you need it most.

Cost of living support

To help with the cost of living Catherine Jones has expanded our Fairshare deliveries to receive free food on campus at our weekly Pantry and also expanded our Swap Shops. We are also looking for Eco Volunteers to help support this initiative which is also great for the environment so why not get involved. Details here Eco Volunteers

The Student Voice

Daniel Wright has been working with our new Sabbaticals Blessing and Emeka to streamline and strengthen student voice on campus. These changes will be introduced over first trimester. Patrycja Stanny has put together a video with the sabbatical team on how we can help you and how to enjoy the best part of being at University https://youtu.be/Adjp3744Q2Q?si=Tk6MnkYfTQZuMMvC

More about Edinburgh Napier Students Association

You can meet the rest of our team here and I'd like to thank each and everyone of them for the planning they have put into this academic year from the end of January until now. Here's a copy of our updated video which explains everything we do and other members of the communications team, the finance team, our administration team and our Advice Team.

Tony Foster, ENSA CEO

5 Things For A Sunny Friday

Fri, 10 Jul 2026 10:30:11 +0100

GRADUATING STUDENTS

Congratulations to everyone who has graduated from Edinburgh Napier University this summer. The sun was shining, the ENSA Knight was out and I hope you and your family and friends had an enjoyable time. Don’t forget to get your ENSA Honorary Life Membership card, extend student life a little longer and support the next cohort of students – details here Life Memberships

NSS

The NSS results are out and on the Students Association question we went UP 1.9% to 76%. We aim to get over 70% every year. Good news! Read the full NSS report from Daniel Wright here and then see what we have achieved this year here in our Impact Report ENSA_ImpactReport_2026.pdf and what we are doing next year in our updated Community Plan StrategicPlan_2026-27_update.pdf which also includes our new strategic objectives at the end.

UNIVERSITY STRATEGY

The University has linked in with the Students’ Association to work with students on the University Strategy consultation. We have already had an initial meeting but a report that went to Court and next steps are explained here Napier's Next Strategy

MERCHISTON ON THE MOVE

The news is out about plans for Merchiston and the move to a site at the Gyle. You may have caught it on the news. Yes it was discussed at Court and at an open meeting on 16th June and yes we haven’t seen any communications to students, just an email to staff. Things are at an early stage and we will keep you informed as best we can. You may have also read stories about merger by stealth but that is not the case. We will keep you informed of developments there too!

ON BOARDING

Contracts, advice, legal action, non payments, building work, new events, committee chase ups, auditors – you name it we have been dealing with it this week. But the best bit has been the induction of our new sabbaticals Emeka and Blessing who I think will do a fantastic job representing students this year, so a big hello to them. We are also saying hello on Monday to our brand new staff member Kiera Lay. Kiera will be our brand new Societies and Community Development Manager, who will look after our Societies, while Craig and Megan (along with Austen) will be dedicated to Sport. You asked for this support and we delivered! Plus Austen has manged to get over £15,000 extra funding for sports in 2026/27. It’s all good news but its keeping everyone busy while you (hopefully) are enjoying the summer break.

Talking of summer breaks this is the final Five Things for a Friday for a little while – we will be back in September. I wish all our staff and students a great summer holiday.

Tony

Five Things For A Friday 19.06.26

Fri, 19 Jun 2026 10:30:45 +0100

UNIVERSITY COURT

The University Court met over the last fortnight and agreed the University budget and the Students’ Association grant. The Students’ Association would like to thank the University for their continued support. Here are the facts and figures of the year ENSA_ImpactReport_2026.pdf

ENSA BOARD

Our ENSA Board met this week. Staff were in attendance to talk about their year and what plans they have moving forward. The Board is a great sounding board for us all and it was a productive meeting. It was also nice to see two new sabbaticals in attendance, Emeka and Blessing, joining Austen and new University Court representative David Scott.

STAFF MEETING

Each Wednesday we have a half hour diary meeting with everyone to see what has gone on the week before and coming up in the next week. It helps us avoid repetition, making sure we sing from the same song sheet and identify if there can be some joined up thinking between departments.

That is followed by the Senior Leadership Team and a Planning Meeting in the afternoon which covered on mental health agreements, onboarding, governance, policies, ENSA booklet content, excellence awards review and graduations. Everyone is quite busy but we know at one point in the week we can catch up for an hour and a half and make decisions to move the organisation forward.

We got to catch up with the catering team and how we can support them and I also attended an EDI meeting. What struck me is what a culture change it will make with the staff and sabbaticals working together to take complete ownership of that change. In the last few weeks we have done blind interviews and provided people coming for interview questions in advance to avoid anxiety and allow for people to consider their answers and communicate in the best way they can.

REFLECTION

When I first came to the organisation, nearly two years ago, I took time to speak to everyone individually and got to know them and their thoughts about working for ENSA and what we could achieve together. I hope what I was told in that moment and the contribution they have made since that seed was planted (to me) has helped us be a better organisation that will continue to improve.

WHAT NEXT

Evans is flying the Napier flag in China (check out his socials for all the latest), Chika is taking a well earned break with his new daughter after an amazing year. Sport will be given time to develop with a team dedicated to it. We also have some news on additional funding which I hope Austen will be able to share with you soon. We’ve put some new funds into a dedicated Societies and Community staff member who can help support and develop societies. The role will also look at ways we can work with community groups across Edinburgh that align with your objectives. Interviews are for that role on Monday.

One last Five Things For A Friday before the summer break next week. See you then!

World Cup Friday

Fri, 12 Jun 2026 09:59:50 +0100

FIVE THINGS FOR A FRIDAY

1. This year the ENSA Team has had one new signing (Amanda, replacing Elayne who took retirement) and, as of today, we have had no transfers of staff to other teams this year

2. Our two 'on loan' sabbatical players leave at the end of June and more about that and their replacements once the signing window closes at the end of the month!

3 We intend to have another brand new signing in a new staff role to support Societies and their Edinburgh and Academic community work Societies and Communities Development Manager. This means we can also develop sport into season 2026/27.

4. All our players have been able to share in some advanced training session this year to make them continue in their role as world class players. From Membership Services to Marketing, BUCS to SSS, Mental Well Being to training on new systems such as Advice Pro and Approval Max. We've also been learning from other Student Unions (but not 'spying' with a camera or anything!)

5. In the league tables we've come top in Edinburgh, top in Scotland, higher in BUCs leagues and when it comes to clubs. socieites and social activities we are third place in Scotland behind well funded teams with far greater training facilities.

This team manager is very happy to celebrate the success of all our team members in 2025/26 who have been pulling in great performances day in. day out to improve the student experience at Edinburgh Napier and help students who need our support.. As long as I don't get bumped like Arnie Slot I cannot wait to see how good they can be and where their careers will take them. Enjoy your summer and your success!

Five Things For A Friday 17.04.26

Fri, 17 Apr 2026 14:54:44 +0100

AI SURVEY
The Advice Service is continuing its research in to understanding how students are using AI in assessments. If you have a few minutes, please fill in this short survey and share your views so student's views can be better represented: CLICK HERE

EXAMS APPROACHING
After the Easter break we are well into Trimester 2 and the build up to exam time. This can feel daunting for some, but ENSA will continue to offer support throughout. As a reminder you can access:

Study Support through Improve your academic & study skills

Wellbeing Support through Wellbeing Support and Inclusion

Information on being 'Fit to Sit' through Fit to Sit and extenuating circumstances

Free, independent, impartial and confidential Advice through ENSA by ENSA ADVICE | Scheduling and Booking Website

COMMITTEE TRAINING
ENSA is changing the way its sports clubs and societies calendar runs. In the coming weeks it will run training days for all committees to attend, helping them get fully set up and organised ahead of the start of next year.

ENSA COUCH TO 5K
The ENSA Couch to 5k group is continuing every Wednesday at 4pm and new members (staff or students) are always welcome. You can read more and sign up here: Couch to 5k

JOBS AND CAREERS
With summer approaching many students will be thinking about jobs or opportunities after university. It is worth connecting with Careers Support, or if you have your own business idea you can explore support from Bright Red Triangle for post university opportunities. For those not leaving yet, the summer months offers lots of work in the hospitality industry with lots of tourists coming in to Edinburgh. Working during the extremely busy festival can be both fun and financially rewarding. If you do get a job make sure to know your employment rights too - Work - Citizens Advice