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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Original poster

Durham University

998 replies

NotEnoughTime · 04/02/2020 14:18

Hello.

How many of us are waiting for their DC to hear back from Durham? My DS applied back in October last year and is getting very down now he knows that others who have received offers are being informed that they will be told soon re college allocations.

I am usually a 'no news is good news' type of person but even I am finding it hard to be upbeat as I too am fed up Confused

I wish they would just let him me know soon if he is going to get an offer or a rejection and then he can get on with his life and his A Level revision without this hanging over him.

OP posts:
KingscoteStaff · 28/10/2020 14:01

Just had a lovely 2 days in Durham. Students socialising very happily in their 6s and the city looking really beautiful in pale sunshine.

DS fully recovered from Covid and looking healthy - says food is generous. Both rugby and cricket are training, which he’s loving. Saw pictures of matriculation in college.

He’s signed the lease for a very nice looking 8 bed house - 2 baths and a big kitchen/living room. I guess we just have to keep fingers crossed that they all stay friendly until July...

I shouldn’t think we’ll go up again until the summer, so it’s been a real relief to see him in his new habitat!

janinlondon · 28/10/2020 16:30

Kingscote - so glad you could see him in Durham and in happy mode. I take it you don't have to go up to collect at the end of term then? There are possibly some advantages to having boys rather than girls for that ridiculous pantomime. The suitcases of fairy lights and plants and floor rugs and cushions...arrggh! And what goes up must come down. And up again (repeat ad nauseum)....

KingscoteStaff · 28/10/2020 16:48

He doesn’t have to clear out over Christmas (don’t know if this is due to Corona or whether it’s always true of his college) so he’s coming down on the train with a couple of bags (of dirty laundry I expect...)

alterego2 · 28/10/2020 18:01

@KingscoteStaff - your visit sounds lovely. I have a visit planned for the end of next week and both DD and I have been getting quite excited - but she has just called to say that a second person in her household has tested positive. So after 10 days of freedom it looks like she's back in lockdown. It's all the more annoying because she has had an antibody test and we know she has had Covid, so it seems daft that she still has to stay in. Has this happened to anyone else's DC?

MarchingFrogs · 28/10/2020 22:04

@alterego2, The self isolation period is 14 days from the first person developing symptoms (or from testing positive though asymptomatic e.g. if tested as part of a university screening scheme). So only the person in the household newly testing positive (and anyone subsequent, obviously) has to complete 10 days self isolation from when they became ill / had a positive test. Anyone who has remained well for a full 14 days is then 'free', as would anyone be after their own 10 days, who had tested positive earlier.
www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance/stay-at-home-guidance-for-households-with-possible-coronavirus-covid-19-infection

Returning to your normal routine

If you remain well, you can return to your normal routine at the end of the 14-day period. You do not need to isolate for longer than 14 days, even if other household members develop symptoms during this period. However, the person with new symptoms should now self-isolate for 10 days. People in the household who remain well after 14 days are unlikely to be infectious.

alterego2 · 29/10/2020 16:30

Unfortunately @MarchingFrogs this is an entirely separate case. They had 2 confirmed cases right at the start of term and isolated for the 2 weeks. Then they've been out for 10 days actually living - vaguely - normally. Now someone else has tested positive so the college is insisting on another 14 days of isolation.

It's interesting that last time they were all very good about it, this time theres a lot of rebellion in the air. They all feel they've had it, so few people get re-infected, they can't be infectious any more - they don't see why they should stay in. Morale is very low.

MarchingFrogs · 29/10/2020 16:57

@alterego2, that's rubbish for them. And exactly why slavishly following the advice for everyone else in such households to keep away from the initial infected ones (unless there are clinically very vulnerable flatmates) isn't really terribly helpful. Everyone who is going to get it might as well not worry about doing so when the whole group is isolated from the rest of society for at least a fortnight anyway. (I have to admit that I feel a whole lot happier about DD coming home for Christmas - assuming that she is allowed to - when she has just had it and recovered and is therefore really very little of a risk to herself or others).

janinlondon · 30/10/2020 11:34

Sorry, I've forgotten what college it is alterego - but the Lateral Flow Test Pilot is now operating at two of the colleges (initially), for anyone who wants a test and is asymptomatic....

instanthistory · 30/10/2020 11:56

@alterego2 sorry to hear that your DD has to go back into isolation. My ds has only been out of isolation for a week and I’m hoping that his household stay well to allow him and them to do the limited things that they can actually do outside their flats. First real-life university teaching for ds today - labs - and I’m very excited for him. First college sports tomorrow and I hope it’s the first of many to allow him to meet people outside his household. He does seem ok though, I feel for those who haven’t found people in their household that they get on with.

KingscoteStaff · 30/10/2020 12:05

@alterego2 what a complete bore for them. It’s the uncertainty of it all that makes it so ghastly - they count the days until release, knowing that they could be slammed back inside at any moment.

Can she take any exercise? DS and his fellow-isolationers were given the college tennis court for an hour each day and invented several new team games. Anyone for Volleytenniscroqu?

@janinlondon That testing set up is exactly what all universities should be doing.

alterego2 · 30/10/2020 20:25

It is grim. Luckily the college has gone for isolation from 1st symptoms rather than test results (after discussion with NHS) so they will be out earlier than they might have been.

I think the whole thing has come about because the household is a bit split. There's the more social, out there drinking bunch, who (as far as I can tell) all got covid the first time around, and the slightly quieter, more introverted bunch who avoided them the first time around. And the latest case is in the second group. With 2 DC who are so different they each fit into the separate groups, I am not judging anyone. I just feel sorry for them all.

MarchingFrogs · 30/10/2020 20:45

Luckily the college has gone for isolation from 1st symptoms rather than test results

But that is what the official requirement for self isolation is. From the date of onset of symptoms, or date test is taken (not results received) if the person is asymptomatic. The college isn't doing them any 'special favours' there, honest.

alterego2 · 30/10/2020 21:55

No, I know. But in the first episode of isolation they were insistent that it dated from the time of the latest test. So any subsequent test increased the period of isolation, which meant many students - including DD - did not get a test. We only know she had covid because she had an antibody test.

I guess I'm saying that they have updated their policies

DominaShantotto · 30/10/2020 21:58

@janinlondon

Sorry, I've forgotten what college it is alterego - but the Lateral Flow Test Pilot is now operating at two of the colleges (initially), for anyone who wants a test and is asymptomatic....
The uni I'm currently at as a mature student is the other one doing that pilot and that's more detailed information than we've had about it - we had an email which basically was "woooo we're doing cool stuff - go us... we'll let you know if you're picked for it"
Revengeofthepangolins · 30/10/2020 23:15

Don’t get too excited about widespread asymptomatic spit tests. My son’s school tried it and they found so many asymptomatic positives that half the school ended up being sent home.

janinlondon · 31/10/2020 11:02

I think as Durham is in a declining new infection rate situation this might be why they've introduced it now.....because it is now manageable? I could be wrong of course! Wishful thinking perhaps....

indignatio · 31/10/2020 16:57

Lateral flow testing at van mildert and Stephenson apparently

WelshDaff · 02/11/2020 14:27

Can anybody fill me in on Van Mildert? Does it have a good mix of students? Would it be suitable for an arty creative type?

999caz · 02/11/2020 19:20

My son was allocated Van Mildert as Durham was his insurance choice. Yes it’s diverse with a nice balance of students from his experience. They are also very community minded (their motto says it all)

janinlondon · 06/11/2020 09:13

How are all our Durham students doing with lockdown? DD says one member of her household has left to return home to a long haul foreign country for the remainder of 2020. Everyone else staying put, forming running partnerships and rotas both in and out of household, varying their study places, and trying to ensure they are out for at least part of each day. Arranging movie nights and in house bar for evenings. Any more creative ideas from other households?

Baytreemum · 06/11/2020 12:01

Morale pretty rock-bottom among DD’s friends. A lot of her friends don’t seem to be coping at all well with the total loss of all “life” in Durham. Cases had already been got right down under NE restrictions so it seems a very negative move to block activities to this extent. My DD’s first f2f yesterday of the academic year consisted of exam-style tables set 2m apart, a tutor, 3 big screens with online attendees, and only 4 students in the room. She said it was like an exam and was awful.

KingscoteStaff · 06/11/2020 12:48

DS trying to be positive. His catered college is tricky because there is no ‘common room’ area for his household/staircase. He says some staircases have managed to find armchairs/beanbags/fairy lights/projectors to turn their landings into seating areas, but theirs is a bit small.

janinlondon · 06/11/2020 12:57

I'm sorry to hear that Baytree. Are they getting out every day for a walk or run...? The weather up there has been quite kind (if cold!) recently, and the autumn colours by the river have been lovely....They can still grab a coffee (or a gin!) with a friend from outside their household.....unless they are isolating, of course? While the university has been doing well, and new cases in Durham county had reduced quite a lot by mid October, they have been rising again since the third week....now back to where they were in the early weeks. They were back up at 315 per 100,000 on the 2nd....not looking great...

janinlondon · 06/11/2020 12:59

Yes Kingscote - the stairwells are not great for seated groups are they. They do make for good karaoke though....great acoustics (?)!!

Baytreemum · 06/11/2020 18:19

They have shut the social area and gym at the private halls too and they are not allowed a visitor even tho they are in studios - it goes beyond the legislation as they can’t even have one friend from their linked (support bubble) household over. It’s vicious and I do not see how they can expect 18/19 year olds to live in isolation like that.