I would first of all like to welcome you all to the college. I know you have all worked hard in order to get here and I hope you will find all your effort has been worthwhile and that we will be able to help you achieve your ambitions as far as possible. Please make use of our facilities to the full and if you are in any doubt of what we have to offer, please do not hesitate to ask, I would like to make clear to you your part of the contract, which you must fulfil if you wish us to fulfil ours. Learning, as I'm sure you realise is a two way process and without a significant investment from you, all our efforts will come to nothing.

Now，about class attendance. You are required to attend 80% of classes. If you do not do so, we will not be able to give you a certificate of attendance should you require one for any particular purpose. In other words, we will not regard you as having followed the course at all. The compulsory courses are those classes you take in your assigned groups. In a minute, Mr. Lucas will tell you which group you are in. The extra, individual work available in the laboratory or the computer room is, of course, optional. In addition to classwork, you are supposed to put in 3-4 hours a day of private study.

This year we have changed our methods of assessment, in an effort to get away from the formal examination and move towards a system which better reflects work done throughout the year. You are required to hand in 5 pieces of written work as part of your final assessment — these you may choose from your class assignments. At the end of the course there will a formal examination consisting of 3 three-hour papers. You do not have to take the last of these — you can submit a 10,000 word extended essay instead. You should discuss the title of this with your tutor. You can obtain more details about the examination from your tutor. On a more practical note, we do not want to have too many rules and regulations, but for the sake of public safety and comfort there must be some. It is expressly forbidden to smoke in the classrooms as this poses a fire hazard. We also ask that you do not take food and drink into the classrooms.

About your dorm. You are not permitted to put up overnight guests in your rooms. Similarly, we can't allow you to entertain more than 5 guests during the day in your rooms, as this causes a disturbance. If you wish to hold larger parties, please reserve the common room for that purpose. We hope that you will find these rules reasonable and enjoy your stay with us. I will now hand you back to Miss Johnson, who will assign you to your groups.