Oxford and Cambridge current students - discussion thread for anyone with daughters, sons etc there for Michaelmas 2020 (and not just freshers!)

[DadDadDad]

A continuation thread for those attending Oxbridge for the first time this term, but it makes sense to throw it open to anyone with a DC there (or other family member, or maybe you're a student yourself or teach / work there - all welcome!) Share your thoughts and questions on college life, courses, etc. A certain virus has made it a bit different for everyone this year...

I have a DS who is a fresher at a small Oxford college in a small subject. We will be taking him there in just over a week.

Requirements for households with a confirmed or suspected case (so includes where someone in the household is awaiting test result) = all in household must self isolate.
Stay at home: guidance for households with possible or confirmed coronavirus (COVID-19) infection - GOV.UK
www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance/stay-at-home-guidance-for-households-with-possible-coronavirus-covid-19-infection

Where someone in the household has been advised to self isolate because they have been a close contact of someone who has tested positive, but who does not live with them, only that person needs to self isolate (forv14 days from their last contact with the infected person).
Guidance for contacts of people with confirmed coronavirus (COVID-19) infection who do not live with the person - GOV.UK
www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-for-contacts-of-people-with-possible-or-confirmed-coronavirus-covid-19-infection-who-do-not-live-with-the-person/guidance-for-contacts-of-people-with-possible-or-confirmed-coronavirus-covid-19-infection-who-do-not-live-with-the-person

@dolphinpose I think for freshers, the workload will be really ramping up now and may well be overwhelming, so for some, a parental visit will be a welcome relief and for others just too much to add to the long list of things to do. I would let your DS take the lead on this one. Let him know that you’re very happy to make the trip to spend a couple of hours with him, but equally, you understand if that’s all too much right now and then you can do it another time.

They will be plagued by essay deadlines and making the transition to uni level work expectations is really hard. A lot of them will also start to feel a bit low around week four as the adrenaline of the new experience wears off; too many late nights catch up with them; it starts to feel as though they’ve been away from home for a very long time and yet they aren’t even half way through; and the work just keeps coming at an uncomfortable pace. If you have a fresher that thus far has seemed really happy but has a wobble in the next couple of weeks, don’t panic. It’s a well known wobble time (all year groups hit a four week wall) and it will pass.

Be ready to lend emotional and/or practical support but don’t make any demands on their time. Sorry if this sounds preachy, it’s not meant to, I just wish someone had tipped me off a couple of years ago....

We visited DD1 in her first term in Oxford and she really welcomed it. She's really looking forward to seeing us this term as well... will have to see if we can manage it (DD2 is currently SI so we're not going anywhere for the moment).

I've got so fixated on tier 2 rules that I didn't forgotten that in tier 1 you can still meet outside your household in a restaurant... which makes meeting up a bit easier in worsening weather.

DS is working like a fiend but is also starting rowing (hurrah) and has a rare JCR social event tomorrow... so hope that will lift the general gloom that he feels. I found myself saying "not long until the end of term" to him in a message the other day, which feels tragic.

Yes, I think it's a real worry that they could end up spending most of the year locked in their rooms. DD sat next to (but there was some social distancing) someone at dinner, and is now in isolation for 14 days. I think that's over the top just for being reasonably close to someone for 20 minutes. It's unlikely she's infected. But likely that something similar will happen when she's released.

I've got so fixated on tier 2 rules that I didn't forgotten that in tier 1 you can still meet outside your household in a restaurant...

I don't wish to be a wet blanket, but if you yourself live in a Tier 2 area, check what you as a Tier 2 resident are and are not allowed to do, even when you have travelled to a Tier 1 area.

We are Tier 1, but surrounded by Tier 2 and local hospitality businesses here are getting grief from our local council about making sure that they don't allow mixing of households which include or consist of those from the neighbouring districts.

The actual wording in the High alert level guidance is:
You must not meet socially with friends and family indoors in any setting unless you live with them or have formed asupport bubblewith them. This includes private homes, and any other indoor venues such as pubs and restaurants.
www.gov.uk/guidance/local-covid-alert-level-high#travel
('Find out what restrictions are in place if you live in an area where the local COVID alert level is high').

It's the joining up of the ...'if you live in'... and ...'indoors in any setting... that is the problem.

Yes you follow the rules of the Tier you live in when you go elsewhere. Makes little sense as my tier 2 area has a lower infection rate than my parents tier 1 area, but they are the rules.
This term I will avoid going to C, but my ds is 2nd year and has less need now than he would have done in his first term.

We were not considering a visit to Oxford this term (mainly distance) - and we are currently tier 2, teetering on tier 3, so wouldn't be able to anyway.

I'm sending D1 a box of Halloween treats (no tricks) instead.

We fortunately went to visit DS in O the week after he went up to take his keyboard (weren't sure if there was space in the room for it before) so took him out for lunch though we weren't allowed in college. Unfortunately it was a bit close to when we last saw him in terms of breaking up the term....

We lost a v close family member this week. If DD wants a visit, we'll try to pull one off before Oxford goes into Tier 2.

Sorry for your loss @Hoghgyni.

Thanks for the reminder @MarchingFrogs. I think I knew that once but wishful thinking took over...

Thanks PantTwizzler. This one wasn't unexpected, but it's still tough when it actually happens.

Very sorry to hear that Hoghgyni

So sorry to see that @Hoghgyni

So sorry @Hoghgyni.

@Hoghgyni - sorry to hear that. I hope your DD's college are offering her support?

She's ok. Bashing balls to let off steam now rhat she's out of self iso. I called Student Welfare earlier in the week when she still couldn't leave her room, as I was very concerned about her mental health if she had several days alone in her room with bad news. They would have allowed me to visit her to break the news in person, but luckily we had enough time in the end for DD to get her head around it before the end.

Hog sorry to hear that.

DD appears to have settled in - so we won't be visiting. We are in Tier one but surrounded on all sides by T2/3 where our closest supermarkets / offices are. The take your tier with you makes no sense here - I can sit all day in an office with T3 colleagues, but we can't go to Costa together.

DS is planning to stand for a position on the JCR committee. He has been there for less than a month, and nobody knows who he is, so I think it's unlikely that he will be elected, but it's a useful experience in itself and is a way of getting to know people. I'm not going to specify which position (in case he does get it) but it is very much in line with his values and interests.

DD is finally out of self-isolation. Which in her case I think was over the top. I can really see her spending most of the year in solitary confinement.

Having said that, I think that deferring for a year would probably have been a bad idea. There are no good options.

Glad to hear of DC emerging from isolation. I do hope it isn’t something that they have to do again - for this term at least!
Well done to @Ironoaks’s DS. Good for him!
DS has spent time during the last two weeks setting up a tennis team (of which he is now captain) at his college. It’s got him out and about meeting people outside his household.

My son at Cambridge is in the middle of self-isolation. It seems that all his supervisions are, whether he is isolating or not, online: he hasn't physically met any of his tutors (one a bit ancient but the others pretty young and robust looking). Is this happening in all colleges? They made such a big thing about small group teaching remaining f2f

DD is also having supervisions online. So I suppose at least those weren't affected by self-isolation.

DD having F2F supervisions (1:1 ) @Aethelthryth and just started small group work also F2F in college. Guess it will vary according to each college’s approach to risk, individual supervisor vulnerability or otherwise etc. She feels pretty lucky, also getting some sport in and hasn’t needed to SI ... yet.

@Aethelthryth my DS is having online supervisions too. I think it’s a very poor show from the supervisors involved. They can’t all be vulnerable.

DS remains glum alas.

Well done to @ironoaks junior! Very impressive.