University 2020 :10: Empty nests warm vests and covid tests: uni parents 2020

[sammyjoanne]

Carry on from MilicentMartha's University 9 thead
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/a4025020-University-2020-9-And-theyre-off-making-hay-while-the-sun-shines?msgid=101075411#101075411

news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-t-cell-immunity-exists-six-months-after-infection-study-finds-12121816

Also see here:
www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m3563

It is encouraging about the T-Cells, thats probably why its rare to catch it twice.

MarchingFrogs fascinating article

www.nature.com/articles/s41590-020-0782-6

@Ironoaks

I just saw your colour coded alert system on oxbridge thread(son at Brookes, so check it for info about Ox) and im crying with laughter, thankyou!

@Nettleskeins I'm glad someone else found it as funny as I did.

www.pulsetoday.co.uk/news/breaking-news/covid-vaccine-des-set-to-be-announced-imminently-for-december-start/
Sounds promising. lets hope.

Spoke with DD yesterday.2 housemates when to look at a couple of houses on the same street, a 4 bed and 5 bed. But that was a no as bedrooms too small. DD also had a meeting with supervisor and shes doing well on the maths, but was told to expect the maths to get harder in weeks 6-10. And they was happy with the labs (even though the class is getting between 40-60%) as its new programs they havent come across before (Qtiplot program). They were playing music in the kitchen and Queen came on with bohemian rhapsody and they all started singing the gallileo, gallileo. (I just have visions of Waynes World in the car) :)

1) If the university makes the decision that students can work from home and still qualify for their degree (as they did in March).

Well the university has made their decision, and students must stay there if they want to qualify for their degree (unless they apply to be allowed to study from home due to medical reasons).

Luckily DS is quite happy to stay there.

@Ironoaks cam you remind me which uni your ds is at. ? Was that info they published yesterday? Luckily ds is happy to stay too but can see it might be an issue for quite a few students.

I read somthing similar at cambridge thetab.com/uk/cambridge/2020/11/04/students-told-they-will-not-receive-their-degree-if-they-leave-cambridge-for-lockdown-141856
I know before covid came about and DD applied to Oxford last year, we read something similar on the college handbooks; that students are not allowed home at term time without a good reason and have to get permission from their college.

Told DD this for something to do in lockdown and shes up for it, so shes going to ask her housemates. Nice happy little read...... thetab.com/uk/lancaster/2020/11/03/our-house-did-come-dine-with-me-and-honestly-i-want-to-do-this-every-week-21528

Ds2 has been texting dh about US election, in the same way they would usually discuss football. Ds is studying Politics, he knows more than us on most aspects of the "conflict". I sometimes forget this is why he is at uni, to learn all this stuff!
Come Dine with Me sounds more like my life at uni...crash course in fancy cooking

@specialted DS is at Cambridge. Hopefully the asymptomatic testing programme will keep any outbreaks under control. The numbers are looking encouraging.

All of DS's interactions are online so I don't think they'd even know if he went home. He's staying in any case.

@sammyjoanne and all the other Lancaster mums: quick first person witness report from me on a visit to see DS.

I got the train up yesterday to see DS for a few hours before today's restrictions kicked in. He cycled into town to meet me. Thankfully the weather was fab and warm enough for us to have a nice lunch outside and a lovely wander round town. We walked a way towards Morecambe along the paths near the river too. Everything looked lovely in the sunshine - all the older stone buildings especially. I had brought him a couple of plastic boxes of home cooked food and also bought him a few bits round the shops to filled his back pack up for the return cycle ride.

We didn't go out to campus partly because he had his bike and partly because I wouldn't have been able to go into the flat so we made the best of spending a bit of time catching up together in town.
He and his flatmates are still enjoying their time, although he feels luckier than some as he's still got a bit of face to face every week and had a very well organised lab session recently. As a geographer he's even got a walk with a tutor next week, as they are doing group sessions walking around Lancaster to discuss the development of the commercial areas over time.

One of the 13 in his flat has gone back home for this new lockdown but she wasn't getting much face to face delivery on her course. Two of the flatmates have a birthday today so the others have chipped in for presents from the flat and are roasting three chickens for a big feast tonight to celebrate at home. They do seem to be doing an amazing job of looking after each other.

I thought DS was a bit skinny and peaky looking but he was in good spirits. I think I needed to see he was ok for myself and I can rest easy now that I have seen that he is happy. He was talking enthusiastically about getting his first proper piece of coursework, that counts towards his end of year marks, done and in - and about next year when he is due to be studying overseas.

While the additional restrictions locally have limited options for social outings for our Lancaster students I still think the University is doing an excellent job of giving them as much of an experience as they can in these challenging times.

Also love the idea of the Faraway tree campus and loved hearing about everyone's costumes. Keep sharing here, it's so nice to hear from you all.

Hugs and waves...

DS not too happy today. UoM have erected fences all around the Fallowfield halls and are guarding the entrances! Ridiculous infantilising their source of funding this way! It feels like a dystopian nightmare. They ‘forgot’ to inform the students this was happening. They’ve also fenced off some of the designated outdoor exercise areas for isolating students. It’s been a complete PR disaster. DS and his flatmates have been pretty sanguine with everything so far, but this has upset them. They aren’t’ ‘locked in’ but they need their university pass to get in and out and are channelled through one or two entrances, hardly conducive to social distancing. I expect it’s to discourage people from outside the halls from attending lockdown parties but they’ve gone about it in a very foolish manner.

@MillicentMartha I saw that on the news and thought how ridiculous it was. Students have every right to feel aggrieved.

@WellWoman Thats a lovely report back from your visit to DS. And wow even better can take the course outside to lancaster on a trip into town :)
Glad you had the weather too. Sounds like hes coping really well given the circumstances every student is in with lockdown coming, covid, tier 3 etc..
@MillicentMartha wow thats no uni experience at all with these fences, its more like a prison and students have every right to be angry :(

DD went out to the shops yesterday. posted a pic on the top of the stagecoach bus with a lovely sunny day. Bought a skirt, some baking items such as mixing bowl, whisk and some reuseable cake cases. DD baked the cakes today and didnt do too bad, and they turned out alright :) Shes phoning up grandad today (my FIL). She tends to phone him once a week as hes on his own and they have a right good natter for an hour or so.

And youngest DD did sixth form open day today with her school. Shes going to do psychology, biology, english and geography (she wants to do zoology), getting prepared for her mocks in December, although she would much rather prefer if G.C.S.ES were cancelled like this years, as she would love the CAG more, (due to a good school report) and thinks she will flump the real thing.

Glad your DD is still thinking positively, @sammyjoanne and making the most of things.

The UoM has backed down following all the protests and bad publicity and will be removing the fences tomorrow. What a waste of time and money. Very poorly thought out and has left student/uni relations in a poor state. Student were protesting outside the halls tonight, apparently, in breech of covid restrictions. Blooming disaster.

@MillicentMartha thank goodness they have taken them down. University students are adults, and the uni should know they have a bit of common sense about them and follow the rules. Naturally you will get the odd rule breaker at every uni, and no amount of fencing will stop them. Even if they was allowed to go in and out at a couple of entry/exit points with their uni ID at these fenced openings, theres no stopping meeting outside in a large group, or mingling inside the hall flats themselves.
Students mental health is aboslutley vital and to see barriers going up like that mush have been disheartening. I think a lot of the unis have to answer for a lot of things. For Lancaster in particular the debarcle of the £17.99 per day food packs, and the fact smokers could go outside on SI, but none smokers were forced to stay indoors and couldnt get fresh air for 5 mins.

Wow, thank goodness Manchester re-thought the fences. Ridiculous idea.

There are definitely lessons for the institutions to take from this. Agree, the £18 meal packs were also a real miss at Lancaster and that's just a couple of examples.

Love the cakes photo they look excellent, bst they were well received.

Yes, each uni is a mix of good and bad. On the whole DS has been quite content despite all the restrictions but fencing them in was not their finest hour.

Watching the BBC footage of Manchester - I’ve just spotted two boys who DS was at junior school with ripping down the fences!

Don’t know whether to call their mums...

To congratulate them, @KingscoteStaff? I messaged DS and he'd forgotten the protest was happening!