Do I need to sign up for freshers week at Royal Holloway in advance?

Moving into halls and academic registration are things you are expected to do, and any deadlines for those are in your official arrival pack. Most of the social side of Welcome Week - the freshers fair, club nights, society taster sessions - is turn-up-and-join rather than pre-booked, though some individual events (certain nights out or ticketed socials) do sell tickets in advance through the SU.

Royal Holloway Freshers' Week: What to Expect

Q: When is freshers week at Royal Holloway?

Welcome Week runs in the days immediately before the Autumn term starts. For the 2026/27 year the Autumn term begins Monday 21 September 2026, so Welcome Week sits in the run-up to that Monday, with most new students moving into halls over the preceding weekend. Your exact move-in day and welcome-week timetable are in your official arrival pack, since they can vary slightly by hall.

Q: What happens during Royal Holloway Welcome Week?

Welcome Week mixes practical admin with social events: moving into halls, registration and ID card collection, department welcome talks, the freshers fair where every society and sports club signs people up, and a run of SU club nights and social events. The exact day-by-day schedule is published by the Students' Union closer to the date, and RHUL Mobile's events feature pulls that live calendar into the app.

Q: What is the Royal Holloway freshers fair?

The freshers fair (sometimes called the societies fair) is a single big event, usually early in Welcome Week, where every Students' Union society and sports club has a stall. You walk round, sign up to whatever looks interesting, and most societies let you join for free or for a small taster before you commit to full membership. It is the fastest way to find people with the same interests in your first week.

Q: When is the Royal Holloway freshers fair?

The freshers fair sits early in Welcome Week, usually in the first couple of days after the main move-in weekend, so societies can catch people before term properly starts. It normally runs across most of a day rather than a single hour. The Students' Union sets and publishes the exact day, time and venue each year, so check the official SU channels or the live events feed in RHUL Mobile rather than assuming it matches last year.

Freshers' Week - Royal Holloway calls it Welcome Week - is the run of days before term starts where you move in, meet your flat, and work out what there is to do for the next three years. It is busy and slightly overwhelming by design. This is a plain guide to what actually happens, when, and how to keep track of it without missing anything.

The short version

Welcome Week sits right before the Autumn term. For 2026/27, term starts Monday 21 September 2026, so Welcome Week and move-in weekend fall in the days before that.
The freshers fair is the one event to prioritise. Every society and sports club has a stall in one place, one day - it is the fastest way to find your people.
Most of it is turn-up-and-join, not pre-booked, though a handful of ticketed nights sell out early.
The exact timetable is published by the SU closer to the date - check the events feature in RHUL Mobile for the live, day-by-day feed.
The campus map works offline, which matters on move-in day when everyone is on the network at once.

When Royal Holloway freshers week actually runs

Royal Holloway's academic year opens with the Autumn term, and Welcome Week is the run-up to it rather than a separate fixed date. For the 2026/27 year the Autumn term starts on Monday 21 September 2026, so move-in and Welcome Week fall in the days before that - most students arrive over the preceding weekend, with the fair, welcome talks and social events filling the days up to and including the first Monday. Your own move-in day depends on your hall, so treat your official arrival pack as the source for the exact date rather than a general rule. See the Royal Holloway term dates for 2026/27 for the full Autumn, Spring and Summer term boundaries, reading week and the holiday periods.

Moving in

Move-in day is a logistics exercise before it is a social one: you arrive with parents or luggage, find your hall reception, get your keys, and then have to actually find your room, the kitchen, and the nearest shop before you can relax. This is where a lot of first-day stress comes from, and it is entirely avoidable with a working map. RHUL Mobile's campus map pins every hall entrance and routes you there on foot, and it works offline, which matters when the mobile network is overloaded with hundreds of families arriving at once. Once you are in, the laundry feature shows which machines in your hall are free without having to walk down and check.

Registration and your first timetable

The admin half of Welcome Week is academic registration, collecting your student ID card, and meeting your department at a welcome talk. Your timetable usually lands around registration rather than before it, so if yours looks empty in the weeks leading up to term that is normal and not something to chase. Once it does appear, the guide to finding your Royal Holloway timetable covers where it comes from and how to read room codes like "EWD-1-04".

The Royal Holloway freshers fair

The freshers fair (also called the societies fair) is the single event to prioritise in Welcome Week if you do nothing else. Every Students' Union society and sports club - academic, cultural, sporting, hobby - has a stall in one place on one day, and you walk round and sign up to whatever looks interesting. Most societies let you join on the spot for free or a small taster fee before you commit to full membership, so there is very little downside to signing up broadly in your first week and narrowing down later.

When the fair runs

The fair sits early in Welcome Week, usually in the first couple of days after the main move-in weekend, so that societies can catch people before term properly starts. The SU sets and publishes the exact day, time and venue each year, so check the official Students' Union channels or the live feed in the events feature rather than assuming it matches last year. It typically runs across most of a day rather than an hour, which means you do not have to be there the moment it opens.

How to get the most out of it

Shortlist before you go. RHUL Mobile's societies feature lists every SU society and sports club with what they actually do, so you can pick out ten to look for instead of deciding on the spot with a queue behind you.
Expect it to be loud and busy. It is the single biggest event of the week and it gets crowded in the middle of the day. If big crowds are not your thing, going early or late is noticeably calmer.
Sign up broadly, commit later. Joining a mailing list at a stall costs nothing and is not a commitment. Paid membership almost always comes later, after you have been to a taster session.
Have your student email to hand. Most stalls sign you up by email or a QR code, so it is worth knowing your address before you are stood in front of someone asking for it.
Ask about taster sessions, not just the society. Nearly everything runs free taster sessions in the first two or three weeks, and those are where you find out whether you actually like it.

After the fair

The week or two after the fair is when taster sessions and first socials happen, and it is the part people most often miss because the mailing lists pile up. Sports clubs in particular tend to run trials and beginner sessions early, and the gym and sport guide covers how club membership sits alongside a Sports Centre membership if you are weighing up both.

Everything else: talks, nights out and socials

Alongside the fair, Welcome Week is filled with department welcome talks (usually where you first meet your course tutors and coursemates), SU club nights, and society-run social events and taster sessions. The exact day-by-day schedule is set and published by the Students' Union closer to the date each year, so it is not something a guide like this can list precisely in advance without going stale. RHUL Mobile's events feature shows the SU and society calendar as it stands that day, rather than a printed timetable that changed at the last minute.

Freshers' Week on a budget

Welcome Week has a reputation for being expensive - club night tickets, takeaways because the kitchen is not stocked yet, taxis because you do not know the bus routes. The RHU service runs through Welcome Week and is free for the daytime campus legs, and RHUL Mobile's deals feature lists real discounts at local Egham, Englefield Green and Staines businesses you can use from day one rather than waiting to discover them by word of mouth in week three.

Frequently asked questions

When is freshers week at Royal Holloway? In the days immediately before the Autumn term starts - Monday 21 September 2026 for the 2026/27 year - with most students moving in over the preceding weekend. Check your arrival pack for your exact move-in day.

What happens during Royal Holloway Welcome Week? A mix of practical admin and social events: moving into halls, registration and ID card collection, department welcome talks, the freshers fair where every society and sports club signs people up, and a run of SU club nights and socials. The day-by-day schedule is published by the SU closer to the date.

What is the Royal Holloway freshers fair? A single big event, usually early in Welcome Week, where every Students' Union society and sports club has a stall. You walk round and sign up to whatever looks interesting, mostly free or for a small taster fee before you commit to full membership.

When is the Royal Holloway freshers fair? Early in Welcome Week, usually in the first couple of days after the main move-in weekend. The SU confirms the exact day and venue each year, so check the official SU channels or the live events feed rather than assuming it matches last year.

Do I need to sign up in advance? Moving in and academic registration have official deadlines in your arrival pack. Most of the social programme - the fair, taster sessions, most club nights - is turn-up-and-join, though a handful of ticketed events sell out early.

What is the one thing I shouldn't miss? The freshers fair. It is the one place every society and sports club is in the same room on the same day.

Always confirm against the official schedule

Welcome Week's exact day-by-day schedule is set by the Students' Union each year and published closer to the date, so treat the outline above as how Welcome Week is structured rather than a fixed timetable. Check the official Royal Holloway and RHUL Students' Union pages, or the live feed in RHUL Mobile, for the confirmed programme once it is out.