A coronavirus is a type of virus. As a group, coronaviruses are common across the world. Typical symptoms of coronavirus include fever and a cough that may progress to pneumonia causing shortness of breath and breathing difficulties.

The current evidence is that most cases appear to be mild. Generally, coronavirus can cause more severe symptoms in people with weakened immune systems, older people, and those with long-term conditions like diabetes, cancer and chronic lung disease.

Because it's a new illness, we do not know exactly how the Coronavirus (COVID-19) spreads from person to person, but similar viruses spread by cough droplets.

For all our staff, students and visitors in the UK, in line with advice from the NHS, we would ask you to follow these basic hygiene rules to protect your own health and that of others:

• Always carry tissues with you and use them to catch your cough or sneeze
• Bin the tissue and, to kill the germs, wash your hands with soap and water, or use a sanitiser gel.

This Frequently Asked Questions page will be kept up to date. As this is a rapidly evolving situation we are asking you to check these pages regularly to keep informed of the latest advice.

Staff and students are asked to check their emails regularly for updates from Hartpury,

We also advise you to check the government’s website: Coronavirus: latest information

If you develop symptoms at home:

Stay at home for the duration as detailed in the government guidelines if you have the following symptoms:

• a high temperature of 37.8C (100F) or more.
• a new continuous cough

This will help to protect others in your community while you are infectious.

Do not go to a GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital or contact NHS 111.

Use the link below to check your symptoms and recent travel destinations against current advice. The site will guide you on next steps and their advice should be followed closely: https://111.nhs.uk/covid-19

Please advise Hartpury of your absence as soon as possible by following normal absence procedures.

If you develop symptoms whilst on campus at Hartpury:

Use the link below to check your symptoms against current advice. The site will guide you on next steps and the you should follow the advice closely: https://111.nhs.uk/covid-19  Only call 111 if recommended (or 999 in the case of an emergency).

Do NOT go to a GP practice, or to see the Nurse in the wellbeing centre on campus, or to A&E in person unless advised by NHS 111.

Students: if you are a Residential student, already on campus, you should immediately self-isolate in your room in your hall of residence and follow the guidance on the NHS website https://111.nhs.uk/covid-19

You must also inform the Duty Warden using the number on the reverse of your student ID card to discuss your return home. Special arrangements will be made for non UK students who cannot return home.

Non-residential students should return home and self-isolate in-line with NHS guidance and follow our normal absence procedures.

Staff:  If you become unwell whilst on campus at Hartpury, you should minimise contact with any members of the Hartpury community, return home to self-isolate where possible and appropriate, and contact your line manager.

If you have been told to self-isolate, please remain at home and follow the NHS advice provided to you.

You must also inform Hartpury as soon as possible so we can arrange support for you:

• University students: please email studentadvisors@hartpury.ac.uk and contact your tutor.
• College students: please email wellbeing@hartpury.ac.uk and contact your tutor.
• Staff: please email hr@hartpury.ac.uk and inform your line manager.

If you are a residential student on the Hartpury campus you must inform the Hartpury Duty Warden Team using the number on the reverse of your ID card so support and guidance can be discussed and provided.

We understand that this may be a stressful time for you, particularly if you are not feeling well and self-isolating means you may be missing study or work. Please don't worry, just let us know and we will do everything we can to support you.

Do not come into Hartpury.  It’s likely that you are already in contact with Hartpury, as you may have notified us of symptoms or during your period of self-isolation. However it is important that you inform us as soon as possible if you have a positive diagnosis, so we can support you and as we have a duty to report it to external organisations.

• University students: please email studentadvisors@hartpury.ac.uk and contact your tutor.
• College students: please email wellbeing@hartpury.ac.uk and contact your tutor.
• Staff: please email hr@hartpury.ac.uk and inform your line manager.

If the health condition is identified by Public Health England as putting you at higher risk if you were to contract COVID-19 then you should discuss this with your line manager or tutor to establish what alternative arrangements can be put in place for you. This will need to be agreed on a case by case basis recognising individual circumstances.

Government advice changed on the 12^th March 2020 and you should use this link for the latest guidance from Public Health England https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) now advises British people against all non-essential travel worldwide. This advice takes effect immediately and applies initially for a period of 30 days from 17/3/2020.

We advise you continue to check the FCO website for future guidance.

Please do not be worried about being absent from your studies for this short period.

You should follow the normal processes and deadlines for requesting extensions/deferrals or submitting Extenuating Circumstances.  However, we appreciate that you may not be able to provide evidence that you have been advised to self-isolate.  Please do not worry about this – you can submit extension/deferral requests and/or ECs without evidence as long as you explain clearly why you have been advised to self-isolate (e.g. you have returned from an area affected by the virus). Your tutor will be in direct contact regarding any programme specific support.

Please do not worry about the impact of this on your Tier 4 visa. By telling international@hartpury.ac.uk we will make sure this does not impact on your visa.

Students with concerns should contact international@hartpury.ac.uk

We recognise that with increasing countries restricting travel, many students, particularly (but not exclusively) international and EU students, will want to return home whilst they can. As previously communicated we want students to be assured that they can do this without any concerns about being absent from the university. Likewise, we will continue to support those students who choose to stay.

Due to the uncertain nature of the current situation, we continue to work through the different eventualities regarding assessment. It is very unlikely that in May / June there will be any assessments which require physical attendance. We are working on moving as many assessments on line as possible which may result in the format of the assessment changing and those which we can’t will get moved later. There is another assessment period in July. Currently, we are unable to predict if it will be possible to hold physical exams by then or not. If we are, but students are unable to attend, there are a number of processes which will be available for students to access to ensure that individuals are not disadvantaged.

Due to the announcement by the government to cancel this summer’s exams, you may be feeling uncertain about how and when you will be awarded your results, and what impact this may have on your continuing studies or future plans.

The government has announced its priority is “to ensure affected students can move on as planned to the next stage of their lives, including going into employment, starting university, college or sixth form courses, or an apprenticeship in the autumn.” They have emphasised that they are focused on ensuring that this year’s students are not disadvantaged in terms of their results.

Details from Ofqual about how grades will be calculated can be found here.

We will be closely monitoring the guidance, and are in contact with our students.

Despite the campus being closed, teaching is being delivered online and all services remain open to students, all be it virtually, including Academic Support, IT and Wellbeing.

The campus will remain closed and when the Government provides updated guidance on 14 April, we will assess our current stance.  This date will be the last week of Hartpury’s planned Easter break for the majority of our students. Please ensure you remain at home until we give a clear instruction that access to the campus is permitted.

If we are requested to remain closed beyond this time, we will send an update email to all students regarding our position on the refunds of accommodation, transport and livery fees and refund of amounts from UPay Chilli.

Due to coronavirus (COVID-19), we’ve cancelled all campus events until 1 July 2020.

Wherever possible, we're making alternative arrangements to ensure minimum disruption to plans and have contacted those who were due to attend events between March and 1 July.  More information on these specific events can found here.

For all open day events taking place after 1 July, please see our usual open days page to book your place.

Since the government has cancelled this summer’s exams, you may be feeling uncertain about how and when you will be awarded your results, and what impact this may have on your future studies at Hartpury.

Please rest assured; if you have an offer of a place at Hartpury University or Hartpury College, then your offer remains in place and the terms of your offer still apply. We are taking all appropriate steps to ensure that all suitable applicants can still start their course with us.

Details from Ofqual about how grades will be calculated can be found here.

The government has announced its priority is “to ensure affected students can move on as planned to the next stage of their lives, including going into employment, starting university, college or sixth form courses, or an apprenticeship in the autumn.” They have emphasised that they are focused on ensuring that this year’s students are not disadvantaged in terms of their results.

We will be closely monitoring the guidance and are confident that our admissions processes are able to deal with these exceptional circumstances.

If you have any other queries about your application at this time, then you can contact our admissions team by email at admissions@hartpury.ac.uk