Events

The thought of living with student neighbours nearby may conjure up the following thoughts of horror:

Traffic cones and other street furniture mysteriously making a pilgrimage to a horribly overgrown front garden.

Haute cuisine student-style

Rowdy parties spilling out into the streets with the world's largest subwoofer booming out disco tunes.

Groups of zombie-like drunkards swaggering across your road after a night of cheap alcopops.

Well, the University of Reading has come up with a guide to help students eradicate the negative image given to them and educate them on the the key essentials on becoming a tenant, student and part of the larger community.

The guide, which is released to students this week is called Up Our Street, which is an initiative started by the University of Reading and Reading University
Students' Union (RUSU).

Both organisations wanted to act upon the feedback, comments and
recommendations that local residents have been making to the University on student behaviour.

Students: good citizens of Berkshire

Julia Horne, vice president of democracy and campaigns for RUSU says the guide is not just to benefit the students:

"This is not just our guide, it is the community's guide to ensuring students don't have a negative impact to their surrounding area".

The guide details information that students may not be aware of when moving into a new property or room for the first time.

"Students don't tend to think about rubbish collections and when to lock windows and doors", Julia Horne says, "only because they have always relied upon a parental figure to take care of things."

The main focus for the guide will target 2nd and 3rd year students who have moved out of halls of residence and into a private property.

Information includes:

• Environment - details on street care and ways to encourage green thinking.
• Safety at home - tips and tricks on what needs to be done at home to help prevent theft.
• Safety out and about - advice on how to stay safe whilst out in the town centre.
• Getting around - details of the transport systems in and around Reading.
• Neighbour care - guidelines on how to be a considerate neighbour.

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