Helpful guidance

Getting started with IT at Cambridge

You will receive an email from Student Registry in September giving you instructions on how to access your University Information Services (UIS) accounts with your Common Registration Scheme identifier (CRS ID) and password. This will allow you to access authenticated University services in advance of your arrival.

Further information on Getting started with IT at Cambridge can be found on the following website: https://help.uis.cam.ac.uk/new-starters/it-for-students/getting-started

Student IT services

University Information Services (UIS) provides many University-wide IT services to help you live and study at Cambridge, in addition to those offered by your College. 

The following page (IT Matters @ Cambridge) on the University website contains lots of useful information: https://help.uis.cam.ac.uk/new-starters/it-for-students/student-it-services

All students are required to complete a Data Protection and IT Regulations Declaration Form (available soon) prior to their arrival at College.

The form is to inform you of the College’s responsibility with regards to Data Protection and how your personal information will be processed. Furthermore, it sets out the rules and regulations that you must adhere to when using the University and College’s IT systems. 

If you have any questions or concerns regarding Data Protection please email data.protection@girton.cam.ac.uk

All undergraduate students need to wear a gown for certain events in College, such as formal meals in Hall and in the College Chapel. Please read the following  Academic Dress notes from the College Praelectors regarding gowns and what should be worn with them. 

Churchill Gowns will be selling undergraduate gowns in the Stanley Library on Friday 29 September from 12.30pm. You do not need to purchase an Churchill gown if you do not wish to, but you must have a gown in time for your meeting with the Mistress and the Matriculation photograph.

The prices charged by other robe-makers can vary a great deal, but second-hand gowns can sometimes be obtained from various robe-makers in Cambridge, but they must be of the correct pattern for Girton College. There may be a few second hand gowns for sale by the JCR, but these will be snapped up very quickly.

Undergraduate and Postgraduate students are invited to apply for Jill Vlasto Choral Exhibitions which are awarded for all voices: soprano, contralto, countertenor, tenor, baritone and bass. Holders of these awards, worth up to £350 per annum and tenable for three years, will sing in the Chapel Choir and take an active role in the musical life of the College.

Auditions will be held in the College early in the Michaelmas Term. Those interested in applying are asked to email Gareth Wilson, Director of Chapel Music, at nota1cambiata@hotmail.com.

The deadline is 25 September 2023.

About Girton College Chapel Choir:

The Choir of Girton College has been growing in prominence at home and abroad over the last fifteen years or more, and it is now recognised as one of the foremost Cambridge choirs. In addition to its regular Chapel duties, the Choir often deputises for the cathedral choirs of the major foundations, and in recent years has performed at Ely, Bristol, Lichfield, Norwich, Durham, Salisbury, Gloucester, St Edmundsbury, Coventry, and St Paul’s Cathedrals, as well as at St George’s, Windsor, with forthcoming plans to visit Lichfield, Peterborough, and St Alban’s cathedrals. The Choir has collaborated with several leading professional ensembles, including the London Mozart Players and His Majesty’s Sagbutts and Cornetts (the country’s leading period-instrument wind ensemble). The choir was directed for a long time by Dr Martin Ennis, and is now directed by Dr Gareth Wilson, who previously directed the choir of King’s College, London, and who continues to conduct the professional choir of Christ Church, Chelsea.

Girton College Chapel Choir has collaborated in joint services and concerts with the choirs of Selwyn, Queens’, Clare, Corpus Christi, St Catherine’s, Pembroke, Downing, Homerton, and Jesus Colleges, as well as with St John’s Voices, and tours abroad at least once a year. Recent destinations have included Germany, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Australia, Hong Kong, and Canada. Highlights in the Choir’s history include a tour to Rome where the Choir sang at a Mass in St Peter’s and performed to a live audience of 10,000, including the Pope. The Choir has also performed in Mexico and was invited to Japan to take part in the Kumamoto International Youth Festival and the Takarazuka International Chamber Choir Contest. In the former the Choir shared the stage with the Netherlands Youth Orchestra; in the latter they won three prizes, including the Gold Medal in the mixed chorus division, and the Grossman Prize, awarded by the conductor of the Vienna Boys’ Choir to the ensemble with the best sound. The Choir returned to Japan to perform for, among others, Her Imperial Highness Princess Takamado. Another particularly memorable tour was a visit to Thailand, Malaysia and Sarawak; among the engagements was a concert for the UN, specially approved by the then Secretary General, Kofi Annan. In 2006 the Choir toured both Singapore and Australia, and in 2007 the Choir won third prize out of a field of ninety choirs at the prestigious international competition at Spittal an der Drau beating, among other choirs, the choir once directed by Brahms. In 2017 the choir toured Portugal, where they were joined by Musician in Residence, Jeremy West (of His Majesty’s Sagbutts and Cornetts), and students of historic brass instruments from the Royal Academy of Music. In 2018, the choir went to Israel & Palestine and, in addition to giving concerts in Nazareth, Bethlehem, and Jerusalem, visited a school for the blind, an orphanage, and a refugee camp in the Occupied Territories. 2019 saw two international tours to Singapore and Italy respectively, the latter including concerts in Milan, Crema, Lodi, Cremona, and at Monteverdi’s church in Mantova while a domestic tour in the Summer of 2021 saw performances in Cambridge, London, and Ely Cathedral.

In 2022, the choir toured to Bavaria and Austria, visiting Regensburg, Passau, Salzburg, Vienna, and performed in Anton Bruckner’s church in Linz, and have recently returned from a tour to Milan, Cremona, and Venice in July 2023.

The Choir has recorded on several occasions for BBC Radio, most recently at Christmas in 2019 and 2021, and their most recent tours to Canada, Portugal, Israel & Palestine, Italy, and Germany & Austria have each culminated in CD recordings of Renaissance Polyphony (most of it being recorded for the first time) for choir, organ and historic brass. These recordings are released internationally on the Toccata Classics label, and have received considerable critical acclaim; their 2020 release entered the worldwide Classical Charts at no.9 and was nominated for an International Classical Music Award (you can listen to them here: https://toccataclassics.com/?s=Girton). In 2021, the choir made two CD recordings, both of which featured on BBC Radio and reached the Classical Music Charts. Further recordings were made in 2022 and 2023 and, in January 2023, BBC Radio 3’s Early Music Show broadcast a one-hour retrospective of the choir’s recordings.

Girton College enjoys strong links with London’s major conservatoires through its Musicians in Residence Maggie Faultless (Head of Historical Performance, Royal Academy of Music), Jeremy West (Professor of Early Brass, Guildhall School of Music & Drama and Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama), and Gareth Wilson (Academic Professor, Royal College of Music), and these connections have, in recent years, resulted in performances of Bach Cantatas and masses by Mozart and Cardoso (with students from the RAM) and Lassus’ Requiem (with students from GSMD).

Cycling is one of the primary modes of transport in Cambridge and cycle safety is very important to us. Do read through the following information and equip yourselves with helmets, good locks and front and back lights.

• Welcome to Cycling in Cambridge - your guide to safe and considerate cycling in Cambridge (PDF)
• Cycle Lighting - when must you use cycle lights and what is required (PDF)
• Save Our Cycles - love your bike - lock it and log it (PDF)

The mission of the Language Centre is to:

"Increase multilingualism amongst students and staff of the University; promoting, encouraging and supporting the learning of languages for personal, academic and professional purposes." - University of Cambridge Language Centre

To achieve their mission, the Language Centre aims to:

• Ensure access to outstanding language teaching and support for language learning for all current members of the University
• Support the highest levels of academic achievement by students whose first language is not English
• Exploit the latest technologies and pedagogies to develop bespoke language teaching and learning materials, for use across the University
• Foster learner autonomy in language learners, whether studying independently and/or attending courses within the University
• Provide bespoke professional advisory services to support individual language learners
• Provide high quality learning resources in multiple media, both physical and virtual, in a wide range of languages
• Collaborate and share expertise with other language learning providers within the University and in other organisations nationally and internationally
• Promote language learning and access to university language study to students in schools and colleges.

You can find further information about the Language Centre on their website

For this coming year undergraduate car permits will be very restricted in College. Parking is only available in Mare’s Run but whether a student lives on the main site or at Swirles Court does not affect your eligibility for a permit.

Permits will be granted on the following grounds only:

1. Medical reasons (Doctors letter required)
2. Compassionate grounds
3. Tutorial reasons
4. Normally permits will not be issued for sporting reasons.  In exceptional cases the Senior Tutor may consider applications but permits, if granted, would be restricted to one vehicle per sport.

Applications must be made by completing the College Parking Permit Application Form.

All applications will be considered by the Senior Tutor who will only approve permits that comply with the guidelines. Priority will be given to applicants applying in Category 1.

A warm welcome from Girton College Library & Archive!

We're looking forward to meeting you all very shortly. Your first chance to see the Librarian will be via Zoom on Wednesday 20 September at 2pm and we will also be scheduling tours of the Library for Freshers' week, when you will have the opportunity to meet more of the team. In the meantime, we have put together some information to introduce you to Girton's library and to libraries at Cambridge as a whole: https://www.girton.cam.ac.uk/current-members/library-and-archive/information-new-offer-holders.

If you have any questions, please do get in touch with us by email to library@girton.cam.ac.uk. And we'll see you soon.

Jenny, Kasia, Gosia, Arianna and Hannah

The following letter from Cambridgeshire Constabulary contains useful information including who to contact should you need assistance from the police, where to report anything such as stolen property, and crime prevention.

Welcome Letter from Cambridgeshire Constabulary

The College Chaplain is here to be a supportive presence for anyone and everyone in our community, and is in charge of the life and worship of the College Chapel.  Read the Chaplain's Welcome Letter.