Community

Some students are placed in contexts close to home to minimise disruption to partners and families, and some within daily commuting range of the College, while others are accommodated within the College for the residential component each week.

Whether living on or off site, you will become part of the residential community for Monday to Wednesday. This is a close community made up of students, families, children, pets, and staff. The Common Room is the centre of the College's social life, with a licensed bar and a busy diary of events.

Student stories

Worship

On the days you are in College, you will join in the regular pattern of prayer and worship. A typical day in term-time would involve 7.30am Eucharist (optional), 9am Morning Prayer, 4.30pm Evening Prayer and 9.30pm Compline (optional). On Wednesdays at 11.45am the whole community usually gathers for a Sung Eucharist.

Students, who come from a wide diversity of traditions, are encouraged to bring variety to this pattern of worship by preparing and leading informal liturgy instead of Thursday Evening Prayer, and creative liturgy usually instead of Monday Evening Prayer.

Programmes

Most students on this Pathway will take the Durham University Common Awards Certificate and Diploma, but other courses are available and programmes can be tailored to most people's personal circumstances and needs.

A wide range of modules is available under the Common Awards scheme. At Cuddesdon they are grouped, so as to provide a rich and rounded curriculum, into the following three areas:  1. Biblical Studies,  2. Doctrine, History, Liturgy and Ethics, and 3. Pastoral Studies. 

Which programmes you take will depend on your prior qualifications and your age when you begin training. It will be possible to make a claim for Accredited Prior Learning (APL) on a case by case basis for undergraduate programmes. The credits gained in the successful completion of a Common Awards programme will provide a foundation for further study as well.

Durham University Common Awards

Ministerial Formation

The aim of our training programmes is to prepare the whole person for mission and ministry in today's world. Modules in both mission and ministry help to develop an understanding of the mission of God and the tasks of ministry, and modules in human development and pastoral practice equip you to know what it means to live a fully human life and how pastoral care is responsibly exercised.

Ministerial Formation components