Before you arrive
Welcome to the Kent and Medway Medical School (KMMS)
Our ambition is to make your arrival at KMMS as simple and as enjoyable as possible. We look forward to welcoming you to KMMS.
We are delighted to confirm that due to a very generous donation from the Henry Oldfield Trust we will be supplying all our first-year students with an iPad. These are on order, and we very much hope to be able to give them to you during Welcome Week.
In the meantime, there are some processes that need to be completed prior to your arrival to ensure you are ready to go from Day 1 of Welcome Week and that you have completed all the necessary actions to allow you to take up your first placement that starts on 30 October 2023.
Please find below some key information relevant to your start with us. Before going through all of the content, please make sure you have enrolled and then activated your KMMS IT Account.
We have created a checklist to help ensure you don’t miss any of the things you need to do.
View your digital Pre-arrival ChecklistChecklist
If you have any questions for the team, please e-mail enquiries@kmms.ac.uk.
Online Enrolment
As part of the KMMS enrolment process you will be asked to confirm your personal details, the details of your course, how your tuition fees will be funded and upload a photograph for your KMMS ID card (your student ID).
Once you are enrolled, please read through the rest of the Digital Welcome Pack and get yourself ready for the start of your medical school journey.
Take a look at our how to enrol guide.
IT Activation
As a Kent and Medway Medical School student you are a student at both the University of Kent (Kent) and Canterbury Christ Church University (Christ Church) and you will be able to access digital services across both institutions. To allow this to happen you will have two IT accounts – one at each university. As a first step you will need to activate your Kent account and then you will be taken through an automated process to also get access to your Christ Church IT account.
Please be aware that it may take up to 5 working days to fully access your IT account.
You will receive an email from the University of Kent IT team to your personal address to say it is ready to activate. It can take up to 24 hours between getting a registration confirmation email in KentVision and being able to activate the IT account.
By the end of the process, you will be provided with two usernames, one for Kent and one for Christ Church. These user IDs will be associated with all available digital services and will become important when you are logging into different systems:
- KMMSab123@canterbury.ac.uk
- KMMSab123@kent.ac.uk
You will also be provided with two email accounts:
- Initial.lastname@kmms.ac.uk (this is also your Christ Church email address and will be the main one we contact you on)
- KMMSab123@kent.ac.uk
For information:
ab= your initials of your first name and surname, for example Tariq Smith would be ts
123 = indicates the number of ts’s there have been at the university, for example, 120
So your user IDs would be KMMSts120@canterbury.ac.uk or KMMSts120@kent.ac.uk
For emails, a.lastname is your first initial T=Tariq and lastname = full surname, i.e. Smith. This is followed by a number, indicating the number of t.smiths at Christ Church. For example, your email would read t.smith56@kmms.ac.uk
Forwarding your Kent emails to your Christ Church inbox.
It would also be good to forward your Kent emails to your Christ Church inbox, as this is the account we will predominantly contact you on and this way you only have to monitor one inbox. To do this you will need to follow these steps on the web browser of outlook:
- At the top of the page, select Settings> View all Outlook settings.
- In the Settings menu, select Email> Forwarding.
- To turn on forwarding, select Enable forwarding, enter the forwarding email address, and select Save.
Note: Select the Keep a copy of forwarded messages check box if you want a copy of the original message to remain in your mailbox.
Registration
Registration takes place remotely. We’ll let you know by email when your registration is complete and you are officially registered as a Kent and Medway Medical School student. Please note that this process can take several days. We will issue you with your KMMS ID card during Welcome Week.
Student Portal
The Student Portal is your main hub for all information relating to your course, resources and KMMS student life. The information and links that are available to you here include access to learning resources, KMMS and University news, events, social feeds, timetable information, support, academic services and much more.
The Student Portal will be regularly updated both before you arrive and during your time as a student here. Please ensure you check it frequently.
You will need to use your KMMSab120@canterbury.ac.uk account to access the Student Portal.
Don’t forget to visit the Technology Guide on the Student Portal.
KMMS Learn
KMMS Learn is your Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). The majority of your learning and teaching resources can be accessed via this platform. Different ways you can access your VLE:
- Direct access
- Access via a link from your student portal
- You will need to use your KMMSab120@canterbury.ac.uk account to access KMMS Learn.
Do take the opportunity to have a look around KMMS Learn once you have claimed your IT account. You will be enrolled on your academic modules over the course of the coming weeks.
If you would like further information on the specifics of KMMS Learn, please contact the Digital Education team
Placement Planning Form
The KMMS Placements Team will be allocating your Year 1 Primary Care Network Placements. In order for the team to allocate places effectively, they will require you to complete the Placements Planning Form.
Placement allocation will take into account the educational requirements of the programme as well as any reasonable adjustments needed by a student. We will consider personal circumstances (such as caring for a dependent relative) sympathetically, but there is limited capacity to accommodate this.
To avoid any conflicts, you will not be allocated to a Primary Care Network where you are registered as a patient
NB: For those moving to Canterbury, we realise you will not have registered with a local GP and, as you will need to do this once you arrive in Canterbury, please complete the form with your current GP and submit it. You will have the opportunity to update your new GP details once you have them.
Please ensure this form is returned to us by Friday, 8 September 2023 so that we have time to allocate your placements appropriately.
If you have any questions or concerns please contact the KMMS Placement team.
Complete the Placement Planning Form
Registering with a GP
All students that are moving to Canterbury will need to register with a local GP. For information about how to register with a new GP and GP Practices in the area, please visit the Registering with a GP page.
Information about your GP is an essential part of the Placement Planning Form (see Placement Planning Form section above) and you will need to add this information to your form before Friday, 8 September 2023 so that we can allocate you to a Primary Care Network (PCN) for your placement. Students will not normally be placed at PCNs within which they are registered as a patient or where any family members work or are registered.
Registering with a GP in Canterbury
Occupational Health
All KMMS students are required to undergo an Occupational Health (OH) assessment as part of the enrolment process, this must be completed before you go on your first placement.
Before joining us in September, it is important to take some necessary steps to ensure you are cleared for placements.
- Please read the OH Works Guide as it contains information on the criteria for clearance (top of page 3) and a helpful flow diagram of the step by step process of clearance (at the end of the document).
- Complete the health questionnaire.
- Request your immunisation history from your GP.
- Respond to any requests for appointments from OH Works.
During welcome week, you will have an appointment with OH Works on Monday, 18 September 2023. Please bring with you any evidence you have of your vaccination history.
If you have any questions or concerns about the Occupational Health process or the Health Questionnaire please don’t hesitate to contact either OH Works via kmms@ohworks.co.uk or 01227 286 288 or our Student Life and Wellbeing Team.
Complete the online Health Questionnaire
Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)
As a medical student, it is a legal requirement that you complete an enhanced DBS check. You will not be able to undertake placements until this has been completed. You should have received communications about this already. If, by any chance you haven’t, please contact us at enquiries@kmms.ac.uk.
International Students
If you are travelling to the UK to study for more than six months, you will need to have a student visa. This includes European Economic Area (EEA) and Swiss nationals. To avoid delays to your visa being granted, you must prepare well in advance.
For advice and guidance on how to apply for a Tier 4/Student Route visa, please visit the University of Kent Student Immigration page.
You should have already been contacted by the University of Kent to start this process, if you haven’t please contact studentsupport@kmms.ac.uk.
Accommodation
If you haven’t yet booked accommodation, but would like to, this is still possible.
Register your interest in campus accommodation
For more details about the KMMS accommodation offer at both universities, including pricing, please visit their dedicated pages. Please note you will need to use the dedicated KMMS accommodation application page to ensure you are co-located with other KMMS students and have the correct contract length, as the KMMS academic year is longer than that of most other students at our parent universities.
Canterbury Christ Church University Accommodation
University of Kent Accommodation
Student Life and Wellbeing
We are so excited that you will be joining us soon but realise you may have questions you’d like to ask us in advance to ensure your smooth transition into our school. Whatever your question, we are available to provide you with support.
As a first port of call, please feel free to direct your questions to our Student Life and Wellbeing team who will either answer your query directly or point you in the right direction for the information you need.
Contact the Student Life and Wellbeing Team
Let us know if you have a disability
It’s important you let us know about any support needs you have, even if you feel you don’t need any help just yet. Support for disabilities (including autism, mental health issues, long-term health conditions and specific learning difficulties e.g., dyslexia, dyspraxia) is provided by the University of Kent Student Support and Wellbeing service. The earlier you register with the service, the quicker we can support you if you need it in the future.
Register with Student Support and Wellbeing
Welcome Week Timetable
Welcome Week is fast approaching and we have lots in store for you. To find out more please see the Welcome Week Timetable.
Our parent universities also have lots of exciting Welcome Week activities that you may want to join.
To find out what is happening at the University of Kent please see here and to find out what is happening at Canterbury Christ University please see here.
Timetable
To view your timetable for the first six weeks of term please click here. It is important to note that this timetable is subject to change, your official timetables will be on KMMS Learn closer to your start date. This timetable should be used as a rough guideline for those who need to plan their schedule in advance.
Plan Your Journey
Whether you are arriving by air, train, bus or car, the directions below will help you get to where you need to be.
How to get to Canterbury Christ Church University
Your first day of Welcome Week (September 18th) will predominantly be in Verena Holmes on our Canterbury Christ Church Campus. To find Verena Holmes, from Canterbury bus station please follow the QR code.
How to get to the University of Kent
The Welcome BBQ (September 17th) will take place on the University of Kent Campus outside of the Sibson Building. To find the Sibson Building from Canterbury West Train Station please scan the QR code.
Kent Connected
Kent Connected is a tool dedicated to saving you time and money, improve the quality of your journey and your health, and ease congestion in Kent, by giving you the power to make smart travel choices.