7 August 2020: An update on your course

Dear students,

I hope you have had a restful summer and for those of you who have already begun the start of your academic year, that you are re-energised at the start of your course. The past six months have shown that our core focus on improving health has never been more relevant nor our degrees more rewarding.

I am writing to update you with more detail on our current plans for the start of term. We’ve been working hard to keep things as close to normal as we can – it’s been a huge team effort. Of course, our top priority is the safety of our students and staff, so we have needed to make some changes in line with government guidance.

How your course will be delivered

Since last term, course teams have been hard at work adapting the way we deliver our courses to minimise any disruption to your continued studies. I am pleased to say that we will not be making any significant changes to the content of our programmes. For courses where you can choose a specialism or pathway later on, all those remain available. We expect this to be the case even if government advice on social distancing changes. 

• All courses will start on the normal dates, and at this stage we expect them to be delivered within the normal timescale. We don’t expect you to incur any extra costs over and above the usual costs as advertised for your course.

• For your first term, we are adopting a blended model for teaching and learning that combines online learning with practical, skills-based sessions on campus. There will be some variations in how each course is expected to run and you should visit your chosen course on our website for specific information about your course. The online teaching you receive will take a social-learning approach that combines lectures, interactive sessions, self-paced study and small-group teaching, to keep your experience varied, interactive and dynamic. We will transition the online teaching back onto the campus as soon as it is safe to do so.

• Practical elements of courses that are delivered on campus will run as planned, with appropriate social distancing measures.  If government advice changes, we will try to delay these to a later semester (or year) to make sure everyone gets the practical experience they need.

• The face-to-face teaching we are able to do will take place on campus as usual. We have already implemented a range of measures based on Government guidance to help with social distancing on campus, including one-way systems and distance markers, and infection control measures, including enhanced cleaning. Where needed, personal protective equipment (PPE) will be provided for you.

• For clinical programmes, placement providers will continue to offer placements as they have in the previous years. We will use our existing procedures for allocating students.

View the a full list of changes to your course on your course page under the tab ‘Covid-19 update’.

Students with pre-existing illnesses or disabilities, or who have been shielding  

If you're a student with a pre-existing illness or disability, or who is shielding, your course team will contact you to ask if you would like to complete a personal risk assessment before you return to the site. If you suffer from a serious illness which may increase your level of risk, or have been required to shield due to Covid-19, we recommend that you complete this personal risk assessment. St George’s is committed to supporting our students and will explore all reasonable adjustments to support you to thrive on your course.  

Attendance at site  

For the majority of our courses we will delivering an element of face to face, hands-on teaching on campus in line with social distancing guidelines which you are required to attend (see table above for more information). If you will be unable to attend teaching on site due to a health reason, you must let us know by start of the academic year so we can consider alternative arrangements to ensure you progress through the course. Mitigating Circumstances can still be submitted for unforeseen illnesses; however, being unable to attend the site due to shielding or being at heightened risk from a pre-existing illness or disability will not be accepted as grounds for Mitigating Circumstances. Please discuss this with your course team and complete a personal risk assessment so that all reasonable adjustment can be made.  

Placements  

You will be required to undertake a personal risk assessment before you can attend any placement (or undertake certain other activities, such as those including the practice of clinical skills or requiring the use of PPE) that is part of your course. Where a health concern arises, every effort will be made to identify alternative placements arrangements, but your health and safety will be the first priority, and where alternative arrangements are not possible, there may be implications for your studies. If you are clinically vulnerable or have been shielding, we strongly encourage you to contact your course team now to undertake a personal risk assessment.

We will email you again next week with more information, in particular about the campus, including what facilities we expect to be open. We will also continue to update our frequently asked questions page for students as more information becomes available.

The changes that we are making are the consequence of current public health advice, and our capacity to offer alternatives is limited by that advice. You will be required to consent to these changes as part of your re-enrolment. If you wish to avoid these changes (e.g. by taking a year out from your studies) please discuss this directly with your course team in the first instance. We remain, as always, focused on the best experience and outcomes for our students.

Best wishes

Professor Jane Saffell

Deputy Principal (Education)