Tuesday 05-01-2021 - 11:00

The news we were expecting but still hoping wouldn’t come, came. Lockdown three. What was even better was the abundance of information regarding University – NOT! The announcement last night was followed by many anxious questions, from us as your SU, from the University, but most importantly from you. As your elected officers, we have sprung into action to try and answer your questions where we can, and where we can’t, sending them to the University to get answers for you.

I wanted to keep you in the loop of what we’re doing and asking behind the scenes to try and get as much clarity as possible for you. So far we are looking at the following:

• What University of Chester (specifically) courses are going ahead from the 4^th January and have these students been explicitly informed?
• Will access to libraries or work spaces be ending?
• Will planned placements still be going ahead during January/February? What is the communication to students regarding this?
• Pushing for a no detriment/safety-net policy – Jack is already having conversations about this!
• What does this mean for level 5 (2^nd year) exams? And then other levels in the summer term?
• What is happening with practical placements? (we are asking this on an institutional level, but it may be down to individual courses, we encourage you to ask your programme leaders)
• What further support is being provided to the hardship fund? Particularly for technological support for students who don’t have the equipment to work from home?

This is not exhaustive, but it is what we are immediately focusing on. We are all as officers in contact with our counterparts at other Unions, sharing best practise, support and working together to try and get things such as safety-net policies supported nation-wide.

Student activism has taken hold too with a petition for a safety-net policy to be implemented and we support this petition – sign it here

As soon as we know more about the items above, we will update here and on social media. Stick with us, we’re here to help and if you need support, please ask for it.

El x