Dear students,
I hope that you are enjoying time to rest and recharge over the summer. The last 18 months have been incredibly challenging and I would like to thank you for the personal sacrifices you have made to continue your studies under these exceptionally difficult conditions.
This message is to update you on our plans for the autumn term, advancing the direction shared before last month’s changes to government guidelines. The drivers for our approach have been student preferences, effectiveness of teaching and learning, and the ongoing requirement for universities to minimise transmission of Covid-19.
Consultation and discussion with students and teachers about our experience over the last year has highlighted how much we all value having regular face-to-face contact. Feedback also surfaced aspects of online learning that were appreciated and flagged as worth keeping.
The spectrum of student preferences for lectures was broad, from all online to all on campus and everything in between. For small-group teaching the strong preference of both students and teachers was for this to be on campus.
Your course teams will be in touch soon to outline how the information below will apply to your cohort, and may already have done so if your start date is imminent.
A return to in person teaching and assessment
We plan for all skills based/practical teaching, small group teaching and research projects to be delivered on site. The exception to this is anatomy teaching which will be online initially owing to a ventilation issue which means our Dissection Room is currently closed. We expect to reopen the facility from January.
For lectures and seminars, the balance between on campus and online delivery will vary from course to course. We aim to reflect the preferences of students by giving all cohorts a regular weekly rhythm of teaching and learning that has days on campus combined with days working remotely.
For some courses, this is achieved by having practical and small group teaching on campus, along with a few lectures or interactive sessions (and most lectures online). Others, which have little small group teaching, achieve balance by having more lectures or seminars on campus.
Our intention is for exams to again be held on campus in the coming academic year.
Personal tutor meetings will take place on campus by arrangement with your tutor, with the option of meeting online via Teams if you prefer. Similarly, the Counselling Service, Careers Service and Academic Success Centre will also be offering in person and online appointments depending on your preference. The library and computer rooms will be operating at full capacity.
If restrictions are re-imposed on universities, our approach is designed to make it possible to continue with much of the on-campus teaching planned, but any large lectures would likely need to move online.
The Students’ Union and social events on site
The Students’ Union is planning a full and exciting series of events for new and returning students - keep an eye on the SU website and social media channels for more information.
Freshers’ Fayres will take place on campus on Tuesday 31 August for early Freshers’ week and Monday 27 September during the main Freshers’ fortnight. All students are warmly welcome to attend either or both events.
The SU office is now fully operational with opening hours of 9am-5pm, Monday-Friday. The new sabbatical team are keen to be regularly available on site and are looking forward to seeing you on campus, feel free to say hi if you see them around!
The SU is working on getting their other spaces back to normal, such as the bar, games room, music room, dance studio and Rob Lowe sports centre. They hope that these, alongside club and society activities, will be back with limited restriction in the Autumn term. The bar capacity has been increased since the latest guidance change, now allowing for up to 500 people, depending on factors such as window ventilation.
Extra-curricular events and course socials
Look out for information to follow about student-staff course socials planned on campus between October and December.
Open Spaces, Research Insights, Big Read and Education Ideas Hub events will be running through the year, offering a variety of content and formats. Sessions will be balanced between on campus and online mode, guided by attendee preference. More information will follow about the 2021-22 programmes and how to get involved.
Safety protocols on site
We all have a responsibility to reduce the risk of transmitting Covid-19 (especially given that our campus is based within a hospital) and to avoid disruption to on-campus teaching.
- Type II masks will be mandatory on the hospital site in communal areas and in clinical and lab settings. These can be collected at the University and Hospital entrances to St George’s as well as in the Library. We are recommending their use in crowded areas, which could include lecture theatres and teaching rooms. If you wish to wear a face covering anywhere else on site, please feel free to do so.
- Room capacities for teaching without social distancing have been set according to current government guidance on ventilation requirements. Only one large lecture theatre fulfils these sufficiently to be used at full capacity. This hampers scheduling of lectures for large cohorts (>200) but means that it has been possible to plan for some limited whole-cohort lectures or interactive sessions.
- Most other teaching sessions have been scheduled with a degree of social distancing. This means that, should government restrictions for social distancing be re-imposed, most on-campus teaching should be able to continue, with only large lectures needing to move online.
- We recommend that students continue to use the Covid-19 app when on site to help keep everyone safe.
Get vaccinated as soon as you can
We strongly encourage all students to get vaccinated as soon as possible, if you have not done so already. All adults within three months of their 18th birthday and older are now eligible.
Having two doses of the vaccine greatly reduces the risk of serious illness and of passing on the virus to others if infected. Outbreaks will disrupt on-campus teaching; please do everything you can to minimise your chances of being infected or passing on the virus by being vaccinated.
For students who live locally to St George’s, you can access the walk-in vaccination centre at St George’s Hospital. The centre is open to walk-ins from Thursday to Sunday.
If, as an international student, you have received a first vaccination abroad, please ensure that you bring documentation verifying this to your appointment for a second jab to ensure that you receive the correct second dose.
Test yourself twice weekly
Our continuing freedom from restrictions in the autumn and beyond will be dependent on regular testing. All of us who are regularly on site should be undertaking Covid-19 testing twice weekly (three to four days apart) to break any chains of transmission.
You can collect LFD Covid-19 test kits from the university reception between 10am and 4pm, Monday-Friday. Please ensure you register your result, whether it is positive or negative, linking it to St George’s, University of London. Details of how to do this can be found here.
I hope that you continue to enjoy a restful summer with the relaxation of restrictions and am looking forward to welcoming you back to campus soon.
Best wishes
Professor Jane Saffell
Deputy Principal (Education)