On Wednesday 24 February, the Vice Chancellor emailed all staff with important information. You can read the email in full below:
Dear colleague,
As promised in last week’s ‘View’ I am writing today to share what the lifting of current restrictions means for you as a member of staff and our students.
Following the Prime Minister’s Statement to the House of Commons on Monday, the Government has subsequently updated their guidance on the return of students to universities which outlines that students on certain practice-based university courses can return on 8 March. Therefore, we are now actively looking at where we have the capacity to support this safely.
The guidance means, in addition to in-person teaching in BSMS and ESW (which started in January) we can move forwards with resuming some in-person activity from 8 March for certain courses with practical elements in the following Schools:
- Life Sciences
- Engineering and Informatics
- Media, Arts and Humanities
Schools will contact those students who can return for in-person teaching directly.
As I have said previously it goes without saying that nobody should be expected to work in an environment in which they feel unsafe and an important part of any return will be to give colleagues the agency to make decisions for themselves. This is especially important for those who have, or live with someone who has, an underlying health condition, although there are also other considerations.
Therefore, if you are asked to return to resume in-person teaching or support services and you have personal circumstances that you consider might prevent you from returning at this time, please speak to your line manager about the health and safety and other measures that are in place to make campus as safe as possible, to help you make a reasonable assessment about the safety of your working environment.
I appreciate that for some a return to in-person teaching on campus may be daunting, but please be assured that we will continue to ensure that our campus is as Covid secure as possible. We currently have more than 1,500 students living on campus and thankfully, at this time, we don't have any reported cases on campus (and just four cases off campus). The evidence from our own track and trace system shows that where the health and safety measures have been followed there was no evidence of transmission in the workplace last term. Our health and safety risk assessments have been reviewed for this term, so you can be assured they are up to date.
Since the start of pandemic, the health, safety, and wellbeing, both physical and mental, of our staff and students is our key priority and will remain at the centre of our planning and decision-making.
All students will be required to follow social distancing measures and will be made aware of the importance of taking lateral flow tests in their first week back on campus and then twice a week on an ongoing basis.
Staff working on campus will be asked to take two lateral flow tests each week and this can be carried out at the Sport Centre on campus. You can book your tests here. It’s quick and easy to carry out these tests and we’ve had great feedback from those in our community who are using the facility regularly. You can find out more on the staff webpages.
The Government also recommends that the use of face coverings in Higher Education is extended for a limited period to all indoor environments where 2m social distancing is not possible.
All other academic teaching staff on non-practice-based courses will need to continue teaching online, and the Government will review the options for when they can return by the end of the Spring vacation. We will let you know more as soon as we can after that date and the Government has committed to giving universities a week’s notice ahead of any further reopening.
Regardless of whether you are delivering teaching in-person or remotely, the teaching baselines remain in place with a commitment to 11 hours’ synchronous teaching over the course of a module remains, with in-person teaching resuming when it is safe and possible to do so.
All assessment modes will continue to be online for the remainder of this academic year. We will provide students with access to support for assessment and revision, either in module teaching sessions, cohort support sessions, or with individual tutors, mentors, and study advisors. We will offer these in person when it is safe and possible to do so.
You can read the full guidance we are providing to students.
When will we see a wider return to campus?
More broadly, the announcement from the Government yesterday has indicated that we can start to plan (remembering nothing is set in stone) for a return to campus. The likelihood is that we will follow a 4-step approach in line with the Government’s roadmap:
- Step 1 – 8 March: Academic teaching staff and support staff on certain practical and practice-based courses outlined above will be able to return to campus to provide in-person teaching and support as required to the students who can return
- Step 2 – Following the Spring vacation (at the end of April), the Government has stated it will review the guidelines. Depending on what is allowed from this time, we will plan for a wider opening of campus to allow staff and students to return for the final weeks of the term, in line with our previous arrangements about staff returning to work on campus
- Step 3 – From 1 July onwards, it is anticipated that a fuller return to campus for all staff will be allowed, in adherence to our health and safety guidelines about social distancing
- Step 4 – For the new academic year 2021/22 we anticipate there will be a full return to campus with in-person teaching resumed, again linked to Government guidelines and continuing H&S measures.
We will continue to follow Government guidance and consider how we respond to local levels of Covid incidence and transmission rates to ensure that we protect our campus community.
I do appreciate that these continue to be challenging times and please do speak to your line manager about your individual circumstances. We would also remind you of the wellbeing support available to all staff and our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP).
I expect you will have questions about this – we will continue to monitor the situation and keep you updated. I am hosting a VC Open Forum on Monday with plenty of opportunity to ask questions, we will update our Semester Two webpages and Schools will be in touch to share their plans.
With very best wishes,
Adam Tickell