Dear all,
Welcome back to a new academic year at St George’s. I hope you are returning to your studies re-energised and that you are looking forward to opportunities to reconnect with other students and staff, if in ways that will feel unusual for this time of year.
Over the past few months, the University has been working intensively to enable you all to have an enriching and stimulating start to the next stage of your course. For the coming term we are adopting a blended model for teaching and learning that combines online learning with practical, skills-based sessions on campus. I know colleagues are excited about engaging you in these new approaches after all their careful planning.
With your wellbeing our priority, we have also been working to make our campus as safe as possible for the periods when you are on site for teaching, learning and induction activities.
Now, as we begin the new term and the Covid-19 pandemic continues, we each have a duty to protect ourselves and each other. Below are steps which must be taken by all students.
Take care, show care
We all have a crucial role to play in minimising the risk of transmitting coronavirus. To play your part, below are commitments we ask you to make to take care yourself and show care to others:
- Wash your hands with soap and water or hand gel frequently and whenever leaving any space on campus.
- Wear face coverings in all common parts of the University, including in the main foyers, The Street, common rooms, the Library and the Halls of Residence (but not in individual flats).
- Keep your distance, staying at least two metres apart from others outside your household, or, if that’s not possible in classes, offices or elsewhere, one metre apart with mitigation e.g. face coverings or screens.
- Cover coughs or sneezes using a tissue or your elbow
- Use spaces safely, following the one-way systems around campus, tapping your ID card whenever you can so there’s a record of your movements around campus and wiping desks and computers before you use them in common areas such as in the Library.
- Stay apart, not gathering socially with more than six people in line with the legal requirements. Note that this does not apply to meetings of a single household group which is more than six people.
- Keep informed of any changes to guidance, checking your emails regularly for alerts from the University.
- Remind and respect others, prompting others to follow the rules to keep us all safe, but being aware that some people are exempt from requirements to wear a face covering. Do not take offence if you receive a reminder yourself.
Please be aware that willfully and repeatedly breaching requirements could lead to disciplinary processes.
Stay at home if required
You must self-isolate immediately, by staying at home or in a specific flat provided to you in Horton Halls:
- If you feel unwell with symptoms of coronavirus, which could include any of the following: a new, persistent cough, a temperature or a loss of taste or smell. You must arrange a test through the NHS website or by calling 119 and, if positive, continue self-isolating for at least 10 days from when the symptoms appeared.
- If you live with someone who has symptoms of coronavirus and tested positive, had an unclear result or did not have a test; or who has no symptoms but a positive test result for a period of 14 days.
- If you are told to do so by NHS Test and Trace after you have been in close contact with someone who has coronavirus for a period of 14 days.
You must notify the University if you have had a positive coronavirus test or are self-isolating and provide details of dates and locations of any time you have spent on site. To do so, you should email coronavirusconcern@sgul.ac.uk.
Safety measures we have put in place on campus
We have undertaken a detailed institutional risk assessment to consider and manage the risks Covid-19 presents while you are on site. We’ve also:
- Followed the Government’s Covid-19 Secure guidelines to make the University’s work and study spaces as safe as possible
- Programmed timetables to help the management of social distancing
- Established socially-distanced teaching facilities which will only be open when in use
- Ensured - and will continue to ensure - facilities are cleansed
- Provided additional resources for individual hand cleaning, which are clearly signposted
- Put up signage for social distancing and one-way routes on site
- Ensured you will be provided with the necessary PPE by the University, if required
- Provided specific flats in halls of residence where students can self-isolate, if needed. Supplies will also be made available to students self-isolating to minimise their contact with others
A handy pocket guide on social distancing and returning to site can be found here. A large-font version is also available here.
Support and raising concerns
If you have any concerns, including if you think you might be a vulnerable individual, further advice can be obtained from the coronavirus advice hub on our website or from your course team.
If you would like to talk confidentially to someone, the counselling service can be contacted via email or on 020 8725 3625. The Counselling Service will continue to run sessions remotely from September-December 2020. Please see the website for further details on the range of student support available.
My very best wishes as we all begin this new term together.
Professor Jane Saffell
Deputy Principal (Education)