It is expected that students arrive at laboratory sessions at or before the start time advertised in the timetable. Punctuality is a valuable attribute of professional behaviour that is expected of engineers in the workplace for which your programme of studies is preparing you.

If you arrive after the start time of a laboratory class, it is likely you will not be allowed to take part in the activity and will be turned away.

There are a number of reasons why you will not be permitted late entry, including:

• Operational delivery of certain activities requires everyone to be present at the start of the session, for example for the allocation of groups or hearing important safety information.

• Latecomers may not have time to complete the activities with the time remaining.

• Students arriving late can cause disruption to students already engaged in their laboratory class.

If you are permitted to enter a particular laboratory class late, it should not be inferred that this will be permitted again or that there is a policy of late entry being tolerated. It is always expected that students arrive at or before the start time advertised in the timetable.

Staff running the laboratories may not have time to explain to you why you have been turned away if you are late, as they will need to focus on teaching the class.

If you have been turned away from a lab for being late, you should contact your home department.

If you have concerns or questions about this policy, please contact diamond-lab-support@sheffield.ac.uk

EVERY practical class has a pre-experimental activity. 

This includes a mandatory pre-lab test. 

You must complete all relevant pre lab and Health and Safety activities at least 1 hour in advance of the lab, failure to complete the pre lab activity will result in you being refused entry into the lab. 

The purpose of the pre-experimental activity is to give you sufficient training before you arrive to be able to have a safe and meaningful lab experience. 

The pre labs can be found on Blackboard under the Diamond Labs section.

At the beginning of each year you will be given a Laboratory Notebook to record your findings during the practical sessions. Please bring this with you to every session

The cover pages of each lab sheet contains:

• • The title of the experiment

  • The name of the academic leading the lab

  • The module code

  • Assessment information

It also lists the learning outcomes with keywords to identify what experimental skills the learning outcomes relate to.

Please click here to find out more about the learning outcomes of our practical sessions.