Many students come to us with a spouse or family, often moving to Oxford to undertake their course of study. Wycliffe values families as part of our community, and encourages them to share in this fellowship.
Hall support
There are many ways in which the Hall seeks to make spouses and families welcome. Spouses are welcome to audit classes/lectures and attend ISWs (Integrated Study Weeks) for free (please contact the Academic Office for more information), and are entitled to both an access card for the main Hall site and a meal booking account (please contact the Domestic Team for more information).
Families are welcome on site throughout the year (although we do ask for quiet during exam time!), but there are also various events either geared towards children or where they are very much welcome. The academic year begins with a Welcome Week BBQ and ends with Commissioning Day, both of which seek to deliberately include all students and their supporters, and between times we host other family-friendly occasions such as Fireworks Night and Easter parties. Once a term we have a wonderful All Age Service, preceded by crafts and snacks and followed by family dinner – to which we wish to stress that all are welcome, not just children.
We also seek to support families practically: there are baby-change facilities in the main Hall disabled bathroom, breastfeeding is welcomed anywhere on site, highchairs are provided in the Dining Hall, and we have both a dedicated creche room available to all and a small on-site fenced-off play area. On Thursdays we have family lunches where all are welcome and catered for.
Contact
Contact is a group set up by and for student spouses with the full support of the Hall.
Welcoming
Everyone is welcome, whatever our sense of call is and however we see our role alongside our spouse. We want each spouse to feel as much a part of Contact as they want and are able.
Equipping
We hear real life experiences and receive teaching from those already in all sorts of ministries, to equip us for current and future ministry life and to provide opportunities for us to explore our individual callings.
Caring
We meet, share encouragements from Scripture, and pray for one another. We seek to help people settle into a new chapter in their lives and we support one another practically.
Preparing
Our hope is that friendships made at Contact will continue in the years to come to help support and sustain one another in ministry.
The Contact Committee organises talks each Monday evening and Bible Study each Thursday morning during term. Spouse attendance at this Bible Study is supported by student volunteers who run a creche so that all who wish to attend can have the space to do so.
Contact also organise a series of events across September, before the academic year begins, to welcome all those about to join the Wycliffe family, both those who are new to Oxford and those who know it well.
