Study in the time of COVID-19 (2019/20 intake): lockdown restrictions, relaxation of rules and repeat... And will the Grinch government cancel Christmas?

[NewModelArmyMayhem18]

Carrying on from our previous thread.

I believe these threads have probably been running since the summer/autumn of when our DC were about to start/in Year 13 (so 2018)?

Thanks @Xenia Is there anything about travel for work or educational purposes?

Thanks for letting us know @Xenia.

Thanks @Xenia

The way they have done the new regulations is complicated as they basically make minor changes to the previous regulations which were those covering London in tier 4. Latest regs in force today

www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2021/8/pdfs/uksi_20210008_en.pdf

I have not

The older regs including about Tier 4 Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (All Tiers) (England) Regulations 2020 contain the main provisions and list of when you can leave the house. They say you can go out if you have a "reasonable excuse". The list of those is not exhaustive so might well cover a host of other things too which are not listed.

www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/1374/contents/made

I am pretty sure you can travel to get to work where you cannot do the work from home and I presume for education but not checked that.

DS is going to stay here for the time being as he did not cope well by the end of last term with being in his room trying to work all day every day and nothing to look forward to/do.

Whilst I am sure some students cope well with prolonged periods working independently and very few opportunities for socialising or sport, for others, it’s a total disaster.

DS is desperate to go back. Don't know why. He has home comforts here, gets his washing done, gets fed. He complains about his rental house and doesn't really see much of his housemates. I guess he just feels claustrophobic. DH is quite controlling of stuff like snacks, drinks, times to get up, go to bed so it may just be wanting to have a lie in !

It's very hard for me because I never wilfully break rules. I am very biddable and a bit rigid about rules that's why I am a teacher

I'm pretty sure that my DS would be straight back to uni if we tried to control him that way. They reach an age where they enjoy looking after themselves, I think, though DS wants to stay here a bit longer. I think he will return when a particular one of his flatmates does, as he is the other one who keeps the place clean and tidy, and DS doesn't want to have to confront the mess created by the rest on his own.

DS1 was desperate to go back too , i took him back to his halls yesterday, he was looking forward to seeing his flat mates and said he works better there - I think a lot of students had gone back to his halls already . DS 2 is still at home , he wants to go back eventually but isn’t as desperate at DS1, and none of his flatmates have gone back either . It was a nightmare decision on whether to ‘let’ DS1 go back ... I know if i hadn’t driven him back. he would’ve got the train back there ,,,

DD sent me this today-not sure if you have all seen it...

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/550344

Sorry-thought the link would say more^^ it is to get Uni students a reduction in fees as they are not getting what they paid for!

I'm pretty sure when DS is 35 and pops over for the weekend DH will get him up simbobs (although he tells me off for getting up too early!!). Leopards spots all that.

To be fair, DS has never been one for late night and massive lie ins whilst at home. I just think he is really really bored. My suggestions of reading a book or going for a run are met with disdain, obviously...

Even when older relatives have come to stay DH used to send the kids in to wake them up!!

Piggy, I can understand that that. Here I am not in a couple and the other 3 children have left home and there are not even family meals so in a sense mine have a student house at least in terms of autonomy. I quite like it that they usually sleep until lunch time at the moment so I have about 6 hours to myself working in the house before they even stir.

Nice!

I get up deliberately early to sit in peace with a cuppa.

DD has asked me to take her back at the weekend. Some of her friends are going back, and the children next door distract her while she is studying.

One of her friends who came round to drop a Christmas present off before Christmas, and stayed very socially distant, now has covid and is pretty ill.

We seem to be suffering from the fact that DS has seen covid in himself and his gf, who infected her Dad and partner, but not seen anyone actually ill. Still going out and seeing one or two friends outside. One of his mates has a firepit in his garden so they sit around that. Law breaking, obvs. I am not in favour but he doesn't have enough to occupy him at the moment. No exams and only one more piece of work to be done this semester.

Why doesn't he have exams? Were they before Christmas? DD has had a couple of assignments and 27 lectures to catch up on, plus loads of revision.

@Ginfordinner my DD hasn’t had exams. Just assignments which count for x% of the final module mark. She will do exams in May/June and has already been told they will be open book

No exams for DD either but lots of assignments that are taking up most of her time.

It must depend on the subject then. Maybe science subjects are more exam based.

DD would have exams in non crazy times.

Lol @Piggywaspushed - we are a family of not “biddable” and both DH and I are teachers We do have some routines, but there is no way we could exercise that level of control over our DC
I also get up early to sit on my own with a coffee!

DS had 5 summative essays last term. His housemates only had formatives. He has 5? more summatives this term. He is feeling massively under pressure. It does seem very unfair in these unprecedented times.

Also, DD is back in Bristol where the uni has shut all the libraries (she always studies in the library) but I know other unis have their libraries open. So are the libraries open at your DC unis?

What are summatives and formatives? Sorry for my ignorance.

DD has never used the university library.

DH is quite controlling of stuff like snacks, drinks, times to get up, go to bed so it may just be wanting to have a lie in !

I let DD get on with it. However, she has asked us to wake her up at 9 am every morning as it takes so long for her to get her brain into gear. I will be making her a coffee in 20 minutes.

Formatives are like practice essays, summatives form part of year/final degree marks.
Formatives don’t even have to pass, whereas there’s a lot of pressure on summatives.

Writing these essays obvs only happens after a huge amount of academic reading and all the references and bibliographies have to be done in a set (and time consuming!) way. Plus there are penalties for missing the word count.....

Oh yes. I know all about the word count issues. DD found that she couldn't expand on all her points because she couldn't go over the word count. And all the referencing is a PITA, but she does it as she goes along rather than at the end.

Hundreds of students at Lancaster threatening a rent strike.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-55546265?at_medium=custom7&at_custom2=twitter&at_campaign=64&at_custom1=link&at_custom3=Regional%20BBC%20North%20West&at_custom4=32E6037C-502A-11EB-A4F2-E8CE39982C1E&fbclid=IwAR0jOYTEWX0nH7e4rAdU74nGU5BdWjXKa0_572sqwi2e6G3KLdtFMUlb64g