Moodle

Please ensure your work is submitted on Moodle with a cover sheet and student ID. We cannot accept submissions via email. Instructions for how to submit an assignment / how to submit an audio or video file can be found on the Moodle homepage (by opening block drawer).

Writing Essays

There is an excellent free guide to essay writing available at Writing essays - Royal Literary Fund. It covers subjects like understanding the question, reading and researching, planning, drafting, editing, making an argument and even tells you “What tutors want.” There is also a very useful section on Undergraduate Dissertations.  I encourage you to take a look.

Debra Reid

Please do read the comments provided by your tutors on your assignments. The positive comments about what you have done well should encourage you and you will also find comments which give you helpful guidance for the future.  In response to a request from students, we have provided a feedback form on Moodle so you can tell us what you think about the feedback you receive on your assignments. Your feedback to us really does help us to improve our practice where required.  Please do fill in the form – we really do value your insights. 

Here is the link:

 Assignment Feedback Review Form (formsite.com)

Dear Student Body,

Announcement of Pastor Rick Warren as First Chancellor of Spurgeon’s College

I am delighted to be able to share with you the announcement of the installation of Pastor Rick Warren as the first Chancellor of Spurgeon’s College. Pastor Warren will need no introduction as an innovative American pastor, renowned author, and global influencer. Beyond his international renown and missionary work, Pastor Warren’s appointment as Chancellor reflects his own deep and personal connection to the College as his great, great grandfather studied at Spurgeon’s and was commissioned to Christian service by Mr Spurgeon himself. The video of Pastor Warren’s installation can be viewed here.

Pastor Warren is the founding Pastor of Saddleback Church in California, which grew to over 30,000 weekly attendees across sixteen locations and is the author of The Purpose-Driven Church and The Purpose-Driven Life, which have sold over 84 million copies worldwide. The Purpose-Driven Life has now been published in 200 languages across more than 160 countries. He has a Doctor of Ministry from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. In January 2009, Pastor Warren delivered the invocation at the inauguration of Barack Obama.

As Chancellor, Dr Warren will play a key role in supporting the vision of the College. He has a passion for training pastors and intends to give a monthly Lecture to Students and Alumni of the College during the academic year. In this way, those who wish to learn from one of the most distinguished Pastors in the world will have the opportunity to deepen their own approach to ministry and Christian service.

I am convinced that Pastor Warren’s appointment as our first Chancellor will have a profound impact upon the continuing mission and ministry of Spurgeon’s College.

Yours sincerely

Revd Prof PJ McCormack MBE

Spurgeon’s College secures Full Degree Awarding Powers,

Spurgeon’s College, one of the UK’s leading Christian Colleges based in South Norwood has successfully secured Full Degree Awarding Powers from the Office for Students (OfS) following its assessment by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA). Students joining the College on its courses from next academic year will have their qualifications awarded in the College’s name for the first time, marking an important step towards the College’s ambition to become the first home-grown University in Croydon. The award is not subject specific allowing the College to create new degrees in other disciplines.

The College plays an important role in supporting underrepresented groups within Croydon into Higher Education – with 38% of the student body identify as Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic (BAME) – and delivers courses flexibly as weekday, evening or weekend courses.

In securing Degree Awarding Powers, the College has shown itself to be “an emerging self-critical, cohesive academic community with a clear commitment to the assurance of standards supported by effective (in prospect) quality systems.”

For the theological education sector this is a significant moment, helping to secure the future of theology in the United Kingdom.

Principal of Spurgeon’s College, Rev Professor Philip McCormack said:

“Securing degree-awarding powers marks a critical step in the College’s journey towards becoming Croydon’s first home-grown university, and we are incredibly proud to have secured approval from the OfS. This decision is the result of many years of work at the College to provide high quality teaching and develop a strong community of students and are looking forward to awarding degrees to our students in the College’s name.” 

Shadow Secretary of State for Justice and MP for Croydon North, Steve Reed said: 

“Spurgeon’s College has a crucial role to play in supporting opportunity and access to quality higher education in Croydon. The OfS’s decision to award Full Degree Awarding powers is a vital step in the College’s journey and ambition to become Croydon’s first home-grown university, and I want to congratulate them for this fantastic progress.”

Student Engagement with Assignment Feedback: Action Plan

All students are reminded of the importance of reflecting on the feedback they have received for their first semester’s assessments as they begin to think about their second semester’s work.  A simple form has been devised to facilitate this.  If you would find it useful to talk through your action plan please email Debra (d.reid@spurgeons.ac.uk) to arrange an appointment to  do so. 

                                                                                            Learning Enhancement Department

Zoom Accounts

Advice for coping with increased screen time

ASSIGNMENTS SUBMITTED IN ERROR

Please take every care to submit the correct version of your assignments in the correct place. The College has a Protocol for Wrongly Submitted Assignments which allows for wrongly submitted assignments to be replaced in certain cases. If you think you may have uploaded the wrong assignment, or version of an assignment, you need to inform Joanna Zaplotna (moodle@spurgeons.ac.uk) and registry (registry@spurgeons.ac.uk) immediately; they will consult and facilitate this as appropriate. If the tutor has already begun to mark the assignment it will not be possible to remove and replace it. Please bear in mind that if you inform us after 4 p.m. your message may not be picked up until the next working day, while the tutor may have begun to mark the original submission in the meantime.

The Protocol also states that if you submit in error on the day of your deadline, and are permitted to have the submission removed and replaced, the correct essay must be submitted no more than 24 hours after the assignment deadline has passed. Otherwise it will be counted as late.

EXTENSIONS FOR MITIGATING CIRCUMSTANCES

Students who believe that for good cause (e.g. current or recent illness) they may not be able to submit their work by the set deadline are strongly encouraged to apply for an extension in good time before the deadline, rather than leaving it till the last minute. Although ‘retrospective’ extensions may be granted in cases where the Special Cases Committee recognize that it would have been very difficult to request an extension in time, please remember that extensions are not automatically granted, and the default position if you have not submitted work by the deadline and not been granted an extension is that marks will be deducted for lateness. The Extension Request Form is found on the home page of Moodle.

 For more details on what counts as ‘good cause’ for the granting of an extension see the College’s Extensions Policy

 According to the University of Manchester’s new regulations ( Late Work Regulations – University of Manchester late submissions will have marks automatically deducted by 10 marks per day of lateness. Any late resubmitted work (i.e. work that the Progression and Awards Board has allowed the student to resubmit after failure on the first attempt, and comes in after the deadline set for the resubmission) will automatically receive a mark of zero.