Life at Churchill College

Churchill is a very friendly and open community in which undergraduates, graduate students (known here as Advanced Students), Fellows, staff and visitors interact among our striking buildings and large, leafy site. Most students and some Fellows live in sociable courts around our gardens and on-site sports ground. Accommodation is excellent: modern, roomy, warm and internet-connected.

Students by the Hepworth sculpture in the heart of College

Churchill has a great deal of interconnecting public space. The central hub of the College is formed by the main concourse, the Dining Hall and the Buttery or Bar. Eating together is an important feature of College life. Students and Fellows use the self-service restaurant in Hall at lunchtime and in the evenings, and Fellows quite often join students dining in Hall on formal occasions. The Bar, which is open-plan and right in the middle of College, operates throughout the day. It is wireless connected, so people quite often deal with their e-mails there over breakfast or coffee. It has a giant-screen TV which we use to broadcast major news or sports events. On Fridays in term-time the Bar is the location for 'Pav', the only weekly student club night in Cambridge. This is usually preceded by a formal dinner in Hall.

Other amenities are exceptional — arguably more akin to those of a large campus university than a traditional Oxford or Cambridge College. Our excellent Library is open 24 hours a day. We have a superb on-site sports field, a gym, tennis- and squash-courts, a large theatre/cinema and a music recital room with rehearsal and recording facilities. We also have an art studio and the university radio studio.

Outside work, student life involves informal socialising — in College or with friends in other Colleges — or takes place via clubs and societies, of which Churchill has over 50. A lot of activities and events are organised or presided over by the undergraduate and postgraduate student unions — the JCR (Junior Common Room) and MCR (Middle Common Room). The Senior Combination Room (SCR) helps organise events for Fellows.