Peer Mentor and First Year BA Hons Counselling, Coaching and Mentoring Student, Tom, is sharing his advice on studying at home and looking after your wellbeing during COVID-19.

The University Chapel is closed. But that’s not going to stop the Chaplaincy Team!

This year our usual Maundy Thursday Service will be live and online. We shall meet at 3pm this Thursday (9 April) via Microsoft Teams. If you would like to join in, please send an email to Jeremy.law@canterbury.ac.uk simply putting Maundy Thursday as the subject. An invitation with be sent to you. If you are willing, there is also a little bit of preparation to do before the Service (all will become clear). Please gather together the following items:

The Universities and Students’ Unions operating in the Medway and Canterbury area have made a joint request to private landlords and accommodation providers.

The Universities and Students’ Unions are working together to try and counteract the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and to mitigate the turmoil this has caused for students and staff across all of our campuses.

As part of our commitment to supporting our Level 5, 6 and 7 students through their assessments in these challenging times we are putting in place alternative forms of assessment.

Most formal exams that were due to take place as face to face exams will now take place as a Take-Home Online Exams.

Today is World Autism Awareness Day and April is Autism Awareness Month. So the Student Disability Service has written the following blog post to raise awareness and also highlight what their service can provide support with. Remember they are still available remotely during this time and if you are struggling with the current situation they are there to help.

Our University role is to provide students with the opportunity to complete their programme and enable registration as a healthcare professional in line with the anticipated outcome of study.

As students you signed up for a specific programme, and as your University we would normally consult with students prior to implementing any changes.  We are however in exceptional times and are having to develop a timely response to a rapidly changing external context.

Working with the Students’ Union, we are aware that many students remain understandably anxious about the impact coronavirus is having on their lives, their studies and potentially their assessments.  

As we continue to work on the detail around assessments for Level 5, Level 6 and Level 7 (non-professional body programmes), we want you to know that this is being done with very careful consideration for your current off-campus situation and all the challenges that this is likely to involve.   

Our aim has always been to support you through this difficult situation in a compassionate and fair way – supporting your wellbeing, recognising your achievements so far and maintaining the integrity and value of your qualifications to ensure your future success.  

As such we are pleased to be able to provide you with further reassurances as follows: 

With everything that is going on in the world and the UK now on lockdown, volunteering may well be the furthest thing from your mind, but there are still many ways you can safely help your local community and continue volunteering in these difficult times. If you want to help, but aren’t sure how, here are a few ways you can get involved.

This information is primarily for final placement students, but may be relevant to all 2^nd year student should placement arrangements alter.

During these uncertain times where things can feel stressful and scary, now more than ever you need to look after your wellbeing… And remember, we’re here to support you! We know that following the five ways to wellbeing is a good way to feel in control, remain optimistic and stay positive…

We hope you are keeping well and the transition to off campus learning is progressing smoothly. We are grateful for your continued understanding as we all adjust to this new way of working and studying.

The impact of school closures, requirements for vulnerable groups and carers, self-isolation and social distancing for all, is significant. We acknowledge these will have an impact on your studies and your ability to complete assessments and placements. We would like to assure you that we are taking these factors into account as we design our revised requirement for enabling your progression and success.

We may have moved to a virtual campus, but you can still access many of your usual IT services from home. This includes email, Office applications, and for a limited period, even Adobe Creative Cloud. 

Following the Prime Minister’s announcement tonight, Augustine House Library will close tomorrow on 24 March at 14.00 and Drill Hall at 17.00 until further notice.

As we move away from face to face to virtual services, we wanted to reassure you that we’re still here for you… But just in a different way.

The Graduate College is here to support our Postgraduate Research Students during these exceptional times.  They will be conducting business as usual by virtual means and are contactable via the Graduate College email address: graduatecollege@canterbury.ac.uk 

Staff in the International Partnerships and Development Office, as well as colleagues across the University, understand that international students currently studying with us may be very worried about the rapidly developing Coronavirus (Covid-19) situation. The safety and welfare of all our students remains a top priority.

We are in an unprecedented situation and mindful of both student welfare and their aspirations to become health and care professionals. In order to support this we have already identified that students who are vulnerable should not be attending placement.  

Following on from the VCs message to students on the 18 March 2020 we need to highlight that the delivery of health and care programmes needs to flex. This includes but is not limited to placement experiences. As a result we are taking the following actions with effect from 1700 hours on 19 March 2020, and will be informing placement providers of this decision.