You'll initially return to the blended-delivery model during the week beginning 8 March 2021, combining a minimum of 50% face-to-face teaching on campus with live online sessions on your remote days. 

You'll remain in your current ‘red and black’ groups, as per last term. Your personal tutor will be in touch to remind you as to your first face-to-face session on campus.  

The decision to continue this model, rather than resume 100% face-to-face teaching has been taken to maximise safety for all. It enables us to facilitate access to testing and stagger the return to class in the period leading up to Easter. We'll review the situation at Easter to make an informed decision about how your course will be delivered for the remainder of the academic year.  

Exceptions

There will be exceptions for some students who will return to 100% onsite delivery and they will be notified individually.

All apprenticeship students will return to onsite delivery as per their timetable.

Any Extremely Clinically Vulnerable students will be supported to continue to shield until the 31 March, as per the government guidance.

Additionally, those who are currently overseas and cannot return to the UK will be supported to continue to learn online.

If you are residential student, you'll be able to move back into your halls on Saturday 6 March or Sunday 7 March 2021.

You'll be allocated a time slot to move back, spreading the number of people coming on to campus carefully. Further details will be provided via email.

Please note, under current national restrictions, travel is limited for us all. This means that once you return to Hartpury in March you will not be able to travel back to your family home during the four weeks until the Easter holidays.  

Yes, Hartpury students and staff will be expected to take regular tests. This is so we can mitigate the transmission of COVID-19 on campus, avoid your residential blocks going into lockdown, and improve your student experience. 

You'll be required to return a negative lateral flow test before you are permitted to move back into your halls of residence (residential students), bring your horse back to the yard, or take part in elite sports. You'll then be required to test twice weekly. Failure to do so will result in exclusion from your halls, livery and/or sports academy.

Local (non-residential) students will also be required to take initial test(s) and will then be given their own test kits to self-test at home twice weekly.  

We'll provide you with full detailed guidance via email, to support you on all matters related to Covid testing.  

We understand that some of you may feel apprehensive about returning to campus; it is natural to feel uncertain at times whilst we all adapt to changes and the restrictions are gradually lifted.  

Before the start of the last academic year, we put in place significant measures to ensure the safety of our students and staff, including careful timetabling, social distancing, mask zones, Covid enforcement officers, enhanced cleaning and hand sanitisation stations. 

By following the strict Hartpury campus protocol and national guidelines, we can confidently reduce the risks for us all. The data from Hartpury’s own robust track and trace system confirms that our educational environment has not been a source of transmission. This matches the national picture, corroborated by Public Health England.   

We appreciate these are challenging times and encourage students who are feeling worried or concerned about their mental health or wellbeing to access the support on offer at Hartpury. Please contact wellbeing@hartpury.ac.uk in the first instance. You may also find these resources provided by Student Minds useful.

Hartpury College revised term dates

Information from the Department for Education on how Access to HE students will be assessed or continue their learning can be found here.

All Hartpury Access to HE students will have also received communications from the College with regards to the plans for their continued studies.

The fees for Hartpury managed accommodation and transport and, where applicable, for tuition, will remain as published for the 2020/21 academic year.

As a Hartpury College student, you will receive a full and robust weekly timetable of lessons, activities and independent learning. We are confident that you will still be able to engage with your programme of study effectively, no matter what the circumstances.

To reduce the number of students on campus at any one time, you are initially likely to receive face-to-face teaching on campus on approximately two to three days each week. Over the course of any 2-week period, you will receive at least one face to face session for every module. You will be expected to engage online on the remaining days. Further details on how this will work will follow.

The situation will be reviewed regularly, with the objective being to transition fully to face-to-face delivery as soon as Government guidelines allow.  However, we are mindful that this mixed model of online and face-to-face delivery may need to be in place for the full 2020/21 academic year.

The same curriculum content is planned to be taught as per any other year. It will be taught via a mix of online and face to face lessons and will be adapted to be delivered fully online as needed depending on the Government guidance at the time. The sequencing of the lessons is subject to change throughout the year dependent on the national lockdown status, i.e. when we are delivering 100% online for a period, theory lesson content will be prioritised and additional practical catch up sessions planned for when we return to the mixed online and face-to-face timetable. The appropriateness of a different order of lesson delivery in support of effective learning will be carefully considered at all times.

Our normal timetable and therefore timing of lessons will continue as in any other year. Typically a student has four college days and one study day to support independent assignment work. A typical day is timetabled from 9.30am – 3.30pm with some courses involved in post 3.30pm activities or structured study (in the case of A-levels). All students are expected to engage in additional private study and independent learning each day outside of timetabled lessons.

All students parents/guardians will have been sent information prior to enrolment outlining the expectations of devices needed to access our online Microsoft Teams lessons and Moodle assessment submission requirements. Details of financial bursaries available to support these devices and internet access requirements were also sent.

As a reminder, if you do not have access to a device or an internet connection at home, please remember you may be able to apply for a means tested bursary to fund a device, please contact studentfinance@hartpury.ac.uk for information.  

We also have a small number of loan machines where a student has short-term IT issues but is not eligible for a bursary.  Please contact ITSupport@hartpury.ac.uk.  

If you are concerned about your ability to study at home for any other reason, please contact covidresponse@hartpury.ac.uk so that we can consider the most appropriate support on an individual basis.  

During the year will be sending parents/guardians details of how they can support their son/daughter with links to webinars/sessions they can attend to supplement the support provided by the college.

How will parents/guardians be informed of any issues?

It is an expectation that all students attend and engage with all timetabled lessons (remote and face-to-face). In the event that a student does not attend a lesson, parents/guardians will receive an email detailing the lesson not attended that day. Engagement will also be monitored as well as attendance and where this is a particular concern parents/guardians will be notified via email of any caution or Behaviour Management sanction issued. Feedback will also be provided via Progress Reports (autumn term and Easter) and Parents’ Days. The majority of this communication will be sent to you using the email address that you confirmed during Enrolment. Please do contact us should there be any changes to this so that we can update our records.

How will Hartpury work with parents/guardians of students who needs additional support to access remote education?

We recognise that some students, for example some students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), may not be able to access remote education without support from adults at home. We acknowledge the difficulties this may place on families, and we will work with parents/guardians to support those students to ascertain the support level required to support learning and assessing whether on-campus support is required on an individual basis. All Learning Support one-to-one sessions will continue either online or live depending on the national lockdown status.

Feedback can take many forms and may not always mean extensive written comments for individual students. For example, whole-class feedback, quizzes and Q&A are also valid and effective methods, amongst many others and are used extensively in live online lessons and face to face lessons on a daily basis. A-level students will receive formal feedback on their interim assessments and BTEC/Access to HE students will receive written feedback on their assignments via our Moodle platform. All students have assessment schedules to see when assignments/assessments are planned including the timing of submission. They are scheduled throughout the full academic year.

Our delivery approach means that all lessons are delivered live at all times (with a mix of face-to-face students and remote students at any one time unless in a full national lockdown). As such, all lessons, assignments and internal assessments can be accessed by a student who needs to self-isolate at the same time as all other students. For residential students isolating in our on-site accommodation, your non-academic needs will be supported by our Residential Team.

Student return has been staggered to facilitate access to testing and to spread out the movement of students: 

Week commencing 8 March 2021: the following students return to campus 

• BSc Sports Therapy / MSc Veterinary Physiotherapy continue onsite
• Foundation year students
• First year students
• Final year Honours degree students 

Week commencing 15 March 2021: the following students return to campus 

• Second year Honours degree and Foundation degree students
• Third year Veterinary Nurses 
• Postgraduate students 
• Diploma in Professional Veterinary Nursing remains online (return to campus will be confirmed via Moodle)

Any Extremely Clinically Vulnerable students will be supported to continue to shield until the 31 March, as per the government guidance. 

Additionally, those who are currently overseas and cannot return to the UK will be supported to continue to learn online.  

It will be similar to semester one as you'll return to mixed delivery, with some sessions onsite and some online. 

Our aim is to teach physically face-to-face, whilst adhering to government distancing guidelines, as much as is possible, balanced with online lectures where necessary.

From the week commencing 8 March or 15 March (details above), you'll continue to have a weekly timetable which includes some face-to-face delivery for your smaller seminars, tutorials and practical sessions*. Alongside these, your larger lectures will initially be delivered online. You will still receive the number of delivery hours outlined in the module specifications.

Many of your online sessions will be delivered by your lecturer via MS Teams, enabling you to ask questions and interact with the session and with your fellow students. Many of these sessions will also be recorded for you to revisit afterwards.

Our priority is to maintain the safety of our students and staff while supporting our students’ academic progression and ensuring academic integrity.

*with the exception of Diploma in Professional Veterinary Nursing, which remains online (return to campus will be confirmed via Moodle).

If you live on campus, you'll be able to move back into your halls on Saturday 6 March or Sunday 7 March. You'll be allocated a time slot to move back, spreading the number of people coming on to campus carefully. Further details will be provided to you via email.

If you live in private rented accommodation but are currently living elsewhere (for instance your family home), you should also arrange to move back to your term-time address ready to commence your onsite teaching.

Yes, Hartpury students and staff will be expected to take regular tests. This is so we can mitigate the transmission of COVID-19 on campus, avoid your residential blocks going into lockdown, and improve your student experience. 

You'll be required to return a negative lateral flow test before you are permitted to move back into your halls of residence (those who live onsite), bring your horse back to the yard, or take part in elite sports. You'll then be required to test twice weekly. Failure to do so will result in exclusion from your halls, livery and/or sports academy.

Students who travel into campus each day will also be requested to take an initial test and then continue to test once to twice a week (depending on the number of days you spend onsite).

We will provide you with full detailed guidance via email, to support you on all matters related to Covid testing.  

Please note, under current national restrictions, travel is limited for us all. This means that once you return to your term-time address this will become your full-time home and you will not be able to travel back to your family home for the remainder of the academic year. Further information can found on the OFS website.

However, if you need to engage with your placement over the Easter period and it is linked to your degree programme, you can change households.

We understand that some of you may feel apprehensive about returning to campus; it is natural to feel uncertain at times whilst we all adapt to changes and the restrictions are gradually lifted.  

Before the start of the last academic year, we put in place significant measures to ensure the safety of our students and staff, including careful timetabling, social distancing, mask zones, covid enforcement officers, enhanced cleaning and hand sanitisation stations. 

By following the strict Hartpury protocol and the national guidelines, we can confidently reduce the risks for us all. The data from Hartpury’s own robust track and trace system confirms that our educational environment has not been a source of transmission. This matches the national picture, corroborated by Public Health England.   

We appreciate these are challenging times and encourage students who are feeling worried or concerned about their mental health or wellbeing to access the support on offer at Hartpury. Please contact asc@hartpury.ac.uk in the first instance. You may also find these resources provided by Student Minds useful.

Students who are experiencing financial hardship, including those who have been affected by loss of income as a result of the pandemic, may be eligible for financial support including the non-repayable COVID-19 award. Please check the Hartpury finance page for eligibility and contact details for further information.

You can find the updated information on returning to university in 2021 on the OFS website.

Hartpury University has committed to providing students with access to teaching and assessment, enabling them to complete the required academic credits to progress or complete their degree within the academic year. While the methods by which this is achieved have had to evolve in response to the COVID-19 global pandemic, we continue to meet our commitments to our students, including:

• Mixed delivery teaching (part onsite, part online, only ever moving fully online when government restrictions dictate)
• Meeting the required delivery hours in the module specification, and the minimum of 15 hours per week contact for first year students
• Teaching to a published timetable, with staff providing live support in the relevant published slots
• Recording as many sessions as possible, making them available for those students unable to engage onsite or at the time of the session
• Continuing to assess students in-line with assessment briefs and methods, including rescheduling practical assessments around restrictions to ensure students can complete within timeframe
• Continuing to offer support services in a number of formats, including online. We also activated additional IT and financial support
• The University Learning Centre (ULC) remained open throughout for students to access, with ULC staff also diversifying their approaches to support students remotely

We do not believe it is necessary to consider academic fee refunds/rebates at the current time. We will review this should our ability to support students to progress within the academic year be negatively impacted.

As in any academic year, students are still able use the complaints procedure if their experience deviates from the above and we will use the complaints framework to investigate on an individual basis.

We are aware that a small number of students have asked if the costs of running the courses has reduced in light of the different methods of delivery. We can confirm that our costs have not reduced, with the variation in methods of delivery and assessment requiring additional academic and administration support, alongside other areas such as a Covid secure campus, investment in technology, financial support and wellbeing services.

We do appreciate that there are significant pressures on our students at this time, including financial. We do have a range of financial support mechanisms in place to support students and recommend you looking at the information on the website and/or contacting studentfinance@hartpury.ac.uk.

Hartpury University revised term dates