University life for our soon to be Year 2 undergrads (2019 intake): social bubbles (bursting?), the new normal and hopefully no second wave

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I know my DS is due to move into his flat on 13th September as he is going back to the cheap student accommodation he was in last year, and they are allocated moving slots, presumably so that parents of different students do not meet. As lectures, or whatever they will be, don't begin for a couple of weeks after that I wouldn't be surprised if he came back for a bit to hang out with gf and bf, who decided to quit rather than taking up his deferred place. Some may remember the saga of DS's bf mental health issues last year.

No idea when DD is going back for her final year. She has been paying rent for her flat since July but her term doesn't start until 10th October AFAIK.

At some point I am going to have to sort out who is taking what to uni and work out where the gaps are. As DD was abroad last year DS used a lot of her stuff, not all of which survived the experience.

We took DD and most of her stuff at the beginning of July, where she had a week in the house with some of her friends. She came home and then we took her back at the beginning of August with the rest of her stuff. Four of them in a house of 8 have moved in properly now. DD has a more friends and a much better social life in Newcastle than she does at home.

I'm dreading it when she needs to move next year, as this year it took two car loads of stuff.

@Ginfordinner now they’re in private accommodation won’t the rental periods be much closer to each other? Maybe a month gap between this year ending and year 3 starting. You may be able to rent storage or similar down there to avoid two car trips

Good idea MrKlaw. Thank you.

I kept hoping my older Dd would rent the same house for more than one year so we didn’t have to move her belongings but that never happened The last few years she has used a storage facility. Much cheaper than petrol for two trips to bring her stuff home and back again.

Bham student territory is Selly Oak ... they will all be bimbling around in Big Sainsburys soon !!!!

DD started first year in the lovely new block literally next door to Big Sainsburys, but this year is down one of the roads opposite the Grange Road gate, so much less temptation to use it for shopping rather than Aldi. We all like the falafel place opposite Aldi (well, apart from DS2, who has a morbid fear of finding random raisins in falafel, wes scarred for life by the M&S variety and now shies away from any new ones, however may assurances he gets of their freedom from vine fruit).

DD and one of her housemates have already started moving in, but the arrival of one of the others will be complicated by the inclusion of France in the 'quarantine list', as she lives there.

@Ginfordinner, my DDs rentals usually run simultaneously or more or less and she hasn’t had any probs moving directly from one to the other in friends cars/ubers. She did use Big Yellow Storage at the end of first year which was pretty expensive in the end.

Both mine are probably home till term starts as planning to TA till then

@bigTillyMint how do they get to be TAs for such a short period with all the DBS checks and Covid limitations?

DS joined an agency to get DBS then got a job at a local school through someone he knows because lots of reg staff off because shielding/scared to go in.

DD has joined the same agency to get DBS and is hoping local schools might need staff.

It is an inner London Borough!

I see. Only asked as at my school we HAVE to go back to work, shielding no longer acceptable. Don’t want to go back, especially as I work across the whole school covering PPA. Been made clear to us it’s non negotiable.

I think that will? be the case everywhere. But there will be people constantly thinking they might have symptoms and having to stay home and get tested. On top of usual vacancies in London.

Schools can’t operate safely with not enough staff and particularly not where there are children with challenging behaviour. So I think there’s a fair chance of them needing agency staff.

Good for them. Make hay etc

I know some of the local agencies are doing recruiting, so I'd guess they're expecting to use them.

@Zandathepanda, @Ginfordinner and anyone else whose DCs are at Newcastle. Can you remember whether last year times for unloading at accommodation were later in the day if you had a long way to travel? We don’t particularly want to go up the night before and leave a van full of uni stuff overnight somewhere, and it’s difficult for us to leave in the very early hours as his younger brother is severely autistic and wouldn’t cope with us leaving then, even if we got overnight care for him. We have a 5-6 hour journey so a precise arrival time is going to be tricky!

OMG u turn, I do feel for parents, pupils, unis, UCAS, and thank god DS is past all this mess.

evening all.... :) has anyone been affected by this A level S**tshow? or everyone ok? what a shame for all these kids... just horribly stressful! I know what its like to have a dc not get their predicted grades, but my ds totally deserved it! awful to be downgraded because of an algorithm though..
Talking of results.. tomorrows the day for ds2. He seems ok, so I'm taking my lead from him, but secretly have my fingers crossed. I've got a vague good feeling, we saw his eye consultant at the hospital last week and everything is stable, which is fantastic! so I'm really hoping he's having a winning/positive streak.
Good luck to other Durhamites for tomorrow :)

[quote LaBelleSauvage123]**@Zandathepanda, @Ginfordinner and anyone else whose DCs are at Newcastle. Can you remember whether last year times for unloading at accommodation were later in the day if you had a long way to travel? We don’t particularly want to go up the night before and leave a van full of uni stuff overnight somewhere, and it’s difficult for us to leave in the very early hours as his younger brother is severely autistic and wouldn’t cope with us leaving then, even if we got overnight care for him. We have a 5-6 hour journey so a precise arrival time is going to be tricky![/quote]
Do you know what halls your DS has been allocated yet?

DD was at Park View and I could book my arrival time. You need to be quick off the mark to get the time you want. Because of the panndemic they are doing a phased return this year so students won't all be arriving on the same weekend.

I would allow for traffic delays and book a late afternoon slot. Last year we queued from Durrham services to Newcastle because bothe universities started back the same weekend and Newcastle were playing at home.

I'm interested to know what university is looking like for your students this year, in the UK.

Will they have in-person classes? Mostly? Not many? None?

Is there any Covid testing planned?

Is the university talking about things like social distancing, not socialising, etc?

Just being nosey really!

I don't think any universities are doing face to face lectures. DD is doing a science subject so will be provided with PPE for labs. They plan to have socially distanced seminars.

DD is doing a creative subject. Practical work will be prioritised and done in uni. Lectures will be online. Second year, and sharing a house with friends who are on the same course.

@Ginfordinner he’s been given Turner Court, which I’d never heard of, but was his third choice. It’s further out than his first two choices but only about 20 mins walk, and he enjoys exercising. It’s also in the Ouseburn area, which according to DS is great for food, culture etc. There’s a video on YouTube and I have to say it looks pretty nice. It’s £35 a week more expensive than his first choice, but is en-suite, which I must admit I’m happy about, given the current situation. Thanks for your reply - I didn’t realise slots could be booked, so we’ll keep an eye out for info about that and leap on a late pm slot!

@HoldMyLobster, I have no idea

DS only gets his first year results today! He hasn’t mentioned anything about arrangements.
DD will be starting a Masters but I don’t think she’s heard anything about arrangements.

Think the COVID-19 testing is only going to be in-line with the UK 'track and trace' approach (so not university driven).

DS seems to be going to have lectures online but tutorials/seminars 'in person', from what I can tell. However, that may all change depending on what happens when school/universities restart (a possible second wave).

He's been up to his student flat, dumped a load of kit off and his coming back for a week! Nice gig if you can get it!

Glad that the Govt did a U-turn on the A Level results, although what a cock-up for the universities to now have to sort out.

Good luck to the Durham students getting results today. DD passed! Some great marks, some less so but just so relieved she’s through to year 2 without any extra assessments to do. Roll on next year and let’s hope they can get some type of reasonable uni experience

Morning ... was right abut the winning streak, ds2 has a 75% av, so he can transfer onto Nat Sc/Maths with Physics.. hooray!
well done to your dd @mum2eim ... and good luck to everyone else..
no idea what is happening with course delivery from either Lboro or Durham btw, hopefully it'll become clear soon :D