• All college campuses will remain closed until 15th February due to the national lockdown
  • All classes and support services will be delivered online
  • Bursaries, childcare, and EMA funding will be paid as normal
  • Travel funding will not be paid whilst campuses are closed

We're back to learning from home

The college published a new set of FAQs at the end of last week. These set out why the campuses have closed, and the arrangements that have been made to support students in the meantime. We'll summarise the main points of those below.

Funding

The college's FAQs state: "All bursaries, childcare, and Educational Maintenance Allowance will be paid as normal. Travel allowances will not be paid during the period where students aren’t required to travel to campuses."

Student parents have been in touch with us, concerned that they may lose funding if they can't attend Teams classes due to children learning from home. We have been assured by the college that if students cannot attend live classes, as long as they are logging into Teams and Moodle and keeping up to date, they will receive their funding.

If you are in financial difficulty, the college is here to support you. You can get in touch with the student services team through their daily drop-in sessions, available through the Student Services hub on Teams. You can also email them at [email protected]

Childcare and homeschooling

Childcare funding will be paid as normal throughout lockdown so that parents don't lose out on childcare places. As we've mentioned above, bursary funding will be paid even if you can't make all of your live Teams classes.

Learning from home and homeschooling is going to present a significant issue for many parents and carers. If you are experiencing difficulties, make sure your lecturers and LDT are aware of those as soon as possible so they can help. 

If you want to speak to other student parents and carers about their experience, there are a few threads in our Virtual Campus group you can join in on.

On-campus exams and assessments

We know that some of you have on-campus exams and assessments that have been booked in during the closure period - you should be contacted to rearrange those, but if you aren't, send us an email: [email protected]

Online assessments are going ahead as planned.