St Andrews

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DD has received a very good offer from St Andrews. She loves the look of the course and is very keen to go there. Aside from the course she loves the idea of a small town, has no interest in nightlife as part of the "student experience" and loves the quirky traditions.

Does anyone have any experience of being there and the extra expenses that could be involved such as the extra cost of travel, formal dinners and the like?

We are a low income family in an economically deprived area. She is part of a very small 6th form - 12 in the Upper 6th. Her school is not in special measures but is holding on by the skin of its teeth! They are very keen for her to go to St Andrews but she is not going to be their responsibility!

We will support her as much as we possibly can but I am worried that it will be a lot more expensive than a less elite university.

Any thoughts?

Love the sax is getting some use! And that there are practice rooms - how nice! I hope those are getting some use.

We watched Us last night which had a scene with son going to uni 😭 perfect timing!

In case any of you have not seen the very positive message from Sally Mapstone today:

news.st-andrews.ac.uk/archive/principal-can-do-message-29-september-2020/

Yes I did! I think the tone and attitude of that is a huge positive step. Big tents for outdoor things will be very welcome. We have them outside large pubs and hotels near here - with log pits etc and while that might be a stretch it would be so nice to give them more social spaces.

I've also just read today's message and i agree it feels much more positive. I'm also very happy that the university have said they'll share messages with parents through the Family Programme. I know some people think it's bizarre to have any link with parents, but right at the moment it's a relief to know we'll be kept in the loop, even if our kids go quiet on us. I must confess that I sent a rather stroppy message to the university on the evening of the first "voluntary lockdown" when the rules seemed so unclear and I was very worried about DD being afraid to go outside or buy food. Seems we've moved on a long way since then and we're all beginning to pull in the same direction.

Never have parents been so involved! I think it’s because the students are so new in that environment so they don’t have collective power yet - still finding their way - so we are the back-up!

It def feels more hopeful now

Yes a much more positive message with a bit more of a can do attitude about it. Dd continues socialising in a sporty way did boxing on Monday and badminton last night. Think she is going out tonight for drinks in her bubble so her right arm will get the exercise.. She was also delighted to be selected for the dance competition team ( although let's be honest not sure there will be any of those fir a while!)
Ds is 4th year and busy applying for graduate roles for next September has a spread sheet and everything, not sure what happened to my wee boy who always forgot his rugby boots , homework etc, he is now so organised. We are going up and staying at the weekend as I am now on holiday, looking forward to taking them out for dinner, as are they. Hope all the DC are feeling a bit more settled and getting in to some sort of routine.
I think we should be very proud of them all.

DS says he is not allowed to come home for Raisin week. Hope there are things happening that week in the tent.

@Monkey2001 gosh dd says lots have made plans to go home and booked flights to London. Did an email come out about it?

The Government guidance on visits home seems pretty clear that going home for a week just because you want to is not permitted. They may need to decide what "wellbeing reasons" means pretty quickly, though!

He said it was partly because they said if you are not able to come back on the following Monday you will not be allowed to attend any face-to-face for the second half of the semester and he said they are planning a lot of face-to-face but will be strict about minimising risk.

I still think there may be a national lockdown for the last 2 weeks of October.

He might be right for him as he does have f2f.

As my dd doesn’t she has a flight booked back. She may then stay here til the start of next term. We have an air B and B booked up there for the following week so she could self isolate in that if needed to but I really don’t know how it will play out. If we have a national lockdown for 2 weeks they may as well be at home as no f2f anyway?!

What a mess it all is.

Dd has started f2f tutorial this week so will need to look in to that. If it's an email she quite clearly hasn't read it my ds may be more on it so will as him at the weekend. But you are right it is a mess, schools start half term here on the 12th so be interesting to see what happens regarding restrictions.

@Monkey2001

DS says he is not allowed to come home for Raisin week. Hope there are things happening that week in the tent.

They have moved Raisin weekend to March next year because of Covid. Here is the message:

On Thursday 23 July 2020, an email circulated to students from the 2020-21 Students' Association President, Dan Marshall, announcing that Raisin weekend will be moved from its traditional date in October to the start of Spring Break in March 2021.

Is he thinking of the Independent Learning week?

Just need to vent ladies! Had an upset dd on the phone, the wardens came to their corridor last night and said they were breaking the rules as not wearing masks in their kitchen and there were 10 of them!! They are one household and when they tried to point that out were told they has numerous emails about it and they would all be fined!! Dd is a rule follower so I have looked on the uni guidance and the kids have done nothing wrong the wardens clearly dont know the rules. I have told her to take this further as completely unacceptable. Absolutely livid on her and her housemates behalf.

@Alittlewornout

Just need to vent ladies! Had an upset dd on the phone, the wardens came to their corridor last night and said they were breaking the rules as not wearing masks in their kitchen and there were 10 of them!! They are one household and when they tried to point that out were told they has numerous emails about it and they would all be fined!! Dd is a rule follower so I have looked on the uni guidance and the kids have done nothing wrong the wardens clearly dont know the rules. I have told her to take this further as completely unacceptable. Absolutely livid on her and her housemates behalf.

Get your DD to contact the Covid Rapid Response team. They should be able to clarify the guidance and give advice.

Alittle - how frustrating and stressful for them. Let us know if the report team help 👍

@ApolloandDaphne that is very good advice I will tell her. She is quite upset about it as they have been very good but feel they cant now socialise together even though they are the same household. Poor kids.

@Alittlewornout completely understand your position, and the wardens were wrong - hope they apologise. Your DD was doing brilliantly at making the most of her time within the rules, I hope this does not knock her back.

I would e-mail the warden to complain and demand an apology if it was my DS!

@Monkey2001 thank you so much, yes I have told her to make a complaint and cite the unis own guidance. I know, I don't want it to knock any of their confidence. They were going to have a kitchen night tonight but now feel they cant.

Think these back up my dds case and may be useful to any other dc who find themselves in a similar situation

@Newgirls if your DD wants to keep her room, but will not be in the hall for 2 catered months, did you know that the FAQs say that people in catered halls can pay rent only whilst not there but holding a room? If you look at www.st-andrews.ac.uk/accommodation/ug/fees2020/ you can see that for a shared room in UH, accommodation is £4,034 and catering is £2,330, so she could claim back around £70/week whilst not there.

That is so helpful thanks monkey! Brilliant x

I def want her to hold her room as I do feel spring will be better. I am much more optimistic than even two weeks ago that she will stay but we will see what happens with the reading week etc

The more I hear from friends with kids around the country it seems St. Andrews has escaped fairly lightly so far. But as we know anything can happen.

Just had a chat with DD. Good to hear that she had in-person small group teaching in all three modules this week. STEM subjects, so some of it was was lab work and some was tutorials with half a dozen students in a big lecture hall. So it's beginning to happen but does seem strangely variable between subjects.

That is good to hear as maybe as more depts do it, the others will too. Still zero for my student 😔

I saw a prof friend today who teaches at a London uni and she is genuinely worried that teaching online will lead to job losses. She personally would be happy to go in but it’s being discouraged.

I hope st a manage more f2f soon - dd intends to stay home from reading week at the moment and she says so are others on her course. I’m angry about it as it’s a small course so surely they could do some.

@Newgirls I am so sorry your dd is having no in person teaching at the moment. I agree with @AChickenCalledDaal that it appears very random. Dd has has 2 Maths tutorials and ds who is a 4th year says he is starting some dance to face next week. It all seems very ad hoc to me.