Specific Requirements

Specific Requirements

Your graduation day is a very special end to your academic career, and we want to ensure that you have the best experience possible on this day.  

What specific requirements can we help with?

We can assist with a wide variety of needs for both graduands and guests.

Working with a specialist team we support thousands of students and guests with a variety of needs from social/ communication issues to visual and hearing impairments, chronic conditions and/ or mobility difficulties. 

How can we help the graduand?

We can provide assistance with a variety of aspects and provide as much support as you need. 

  • Check-in

  • Ticket collection

  • Collecting gowns and getting dressed into robes

  • Quiet areas, minimising crowds & queues

  • Photography

  • Processing into/around the Cathedral

  • Assistance during the ceremony

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How can we assist guests?

We can assist guests in a variety of ways including: 

  • Cathedral admission

  • Minimising crowds & queues

  • Seating

What do I need to make sure graduand/guests have the arrangements we need in place?

Please complete the form so we can discuss how we can support yourself/guests. 


We will ask specific things such as: 


  • The date and time of your graduation ceremony
  • What specific requirements you/your guests have and how we can meet your needs. 
We will then respond with information on what support we can provide. 


If you or your guests require us to book you BSL interpreters for the ceremony, please let us know as soon as you receive your invitation as these are booked with an external company so need to ensure there is adequate notice. 

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Frequently asked questions


There is no accessible parking permitted within the Cathedral grounds during congregations. The nearest blue badge car parks are located in Iron Bar Lane, Orange Street (Blue Badge only) and Queningate, all of which are a short distance away from the Cathedral.  

There is no disabled parking permitted at the Cathedral for graduation ceremonies and Boley Hill car park is closed. The nearest available car parks are located below, all of which are a short distance away from the Cathedral. Guests are welcome to use any space within these car parks and simply display their blue badge.

Blue Boar Lane Car Park  Blue Boar Lane, Rochester, Kent ME1 1PD

Corporation Street Car Park Rochester Railway Station, Corporation Street, Rochester, Kent ME1 1NH

Kings Head Disabled Car Park Epaul Lane, Rochester, Kent ME1 1SN

We cannot always seat your entire party in specific requirements, however we may ask that the guest with specific requirements and one other sit in the specific requirement seating. This will be communicated to you when you let us know about your requirements. 

This is so that we can accommodate other guests who may have specific requirements for that ceremony. 

Yes immediately opposite the Cathedral but within the grounds (Canterbury) and by South Door (Rochester) these may be used by visitors at any point during the day, including during the ceremony.  

Ceremonies last approximately 90 minutes, though this depends on the size of the ceremony.  

If one of your guests requires the support of a professional carer or support worker to attend the ceremony, please get in touch with us via email as soon as possible.

Providing that you have signed up for the ceremony prior to the deadline, we will be able to provide carer tickets per guest requiring this support (dependent on the support required) and this will be free of charge.

Please note that we will ask for evidence of professional carer/support worker status, before issuing any additional carer/support worker tickets.

If we receive requests later than 3 weeks prior to the ceremony, we may not be able to confirm these requests.