Dear Student,
Our student body response to the worsening Covid situation throughout December was predominantly to move to attending classes virtually, with less than 4% of the student body physically attending classes in the last three weeks of the trimester. Sadly, the Covid situation has deteriorated further, with new government guidelines published yesterday including recommending the wearing of face coverings in all classrooms and libraries.
Following discussions with the Students' Union on the risks and implications of the current Covid situation, we have agreed to protect student experience by moving all classes and sessions to virtual-only until (and including) the 29th January 2022.
Your timetable will remain the same, with your timetabled live lectures, contact time and access to academics; you will be able to access those lectures directly via the VLE. Your attendance will be recorded based on your virtual attendance. Please remember that whilst joining classes virtually you need to have your camera on and be fully focussed on your lecturer to protect your learning experience regardless of where you access your class from.
Our buildings will remain open for you to access physical learning resources throughout this period, with a skeleton staff available to assist you. We do recommend that you access all support services virtually during January, and only attend campus to utilise the learning resources. Please note that face coverings will be required at all times whilst on campus during this period.
We are all committed to a full return to physical face to face delivery as soon as the Covid situation allows and will look to re-introduce synchronised learning from the 31st of January if possible. However, we hope that this announcement will remove some of the growing anxiety and uncertainty amongst our students and staff.
I will outline our response to Covid and plans for the future at the upcoming Student Town Hall Events next week and look forward to answering any questions you may have then.
Happy New Year!
David Sexton,
Principal