Dear student
This is the second of two emails containing information about what it will be like at Oxford Brookes in the new academic year.
We hope that you found the first email, sent to you last week (26 August) useful. This email covers your time on campus and in the community. This is so you know what to expect, how to prepare, what you’ll need to do and how things will work.
Much of this information is already on the Student Covid-19 webpages, which have been updated ready for the new academic year and are being refreshed regularly. Please do check them as they contain lots more detail than we can include in these emails.
On campus
There’s lots that you can do to help prevent the spread of Covid-19 within the student community. We ask you to help protect others on campus by:
- wearing face coverings indoors on campus, unless there is a medical exemption which you can indicate by wearing a sunflower lanyard
- limiting close contact with people you don’t live with
- regularly washing or sanitising your hands and cleaning desks/shared equipment after use using the wipes provided
- following the signposted circulation routes on campus
- collecting home test kits and taking two rapid Covid-19 tests, three days apart on arrival at University and then reporting the results to the University and NHS Test & Trace. You should then test twice-weekly throughout the semester.
When you come onto campus, you will notice that we’ve kept our enhanced cleaning and increased ventilation measures in place. Water bottle taps will be open for you to refill your water bottles. Free water refills will also be available at catering outlets during opening hours. For hygiene reasons, mouth tap water fountains continue to be unavailable. We’re doing this to keep everyone in our community safe.
Your timetable should now be visible on your Google Calendar: please check this regularly as rooms may change from week to week. When attending in-person teaching, please look after each other by wearing a face covering, and fill the room starting at the desk furthest from the door. You will also find wipes in teaching rooms so that you can clean your desk before you leave.
Please remember to use our QR code system on campus. It supports the NHS Test and Trace service and means that if someone tests positive for Covid-19 we only have to ask close contacts (who aren’t double-vaccinated) to self-isolate. We recommend that you also check-in with the NHS Covid-19 app when you are outside the University at other venues.
From 1 September, library opening hours will return to 24/7 access at Harcourt, Headington and Wheatley, and campus opening hours at Swindon. Study spaces will be available and group study rooms/pods on the JHB library platform can be booked again. You can contact library staff by Live Chat now, or via the Virtual Help Room and face-to-face from the start of semester.
Our catering outlets will reopen in Semester 1. Outlets at our Headington, Harcourt, Swindon and Wheatley campuses will continue to accept contactless (cash-free) payment only. You can pay using debit/credit cards, Apple/Google/Samsung pay or the Yoyo Wallet app. Cash payments continue to be accepted at the Co-op, Headington Campus. Microwaves for you to heat your own food and drink will be available at all campuses.
Remember to take advantage of the free, eduroam WiFi network available to all students at Brookes. Setting up your account is quick and easy, you’ll then be able to connect with the eduroam network on campus.
In the community
We are proud of how Oxford Brookes students have responded to the challenges of the pandemic over the last year. It’s important that we continue to look after each other and the local community as we return to University by:
- being respectful to each other and the wider community
- behaving responsibly and considering the impact of our actions on others, especially in crowded environments
- getting to know our neighbours and supporting each other when needed
- supporting friends when they need help and taking care of each other on nights out
- wearing face coverings, in shared spaces and on public transport
- walking or cycling when travelling within the community wherever possible
- being mindful of how our noise can affect others in our accommodation or nearby, when socialising with friends and housemates or when returning home late at night.
Thanks to your commitment during the past year, Oxford Brookes has been leading the way amongst universities with our test and trace system - let’s keep it that way! By continuing to test regularly and checking in, we will be doing all we can to prevent an outbreak in the Brookes community. If you are able to, and haven’t yet, getting vaccinated is another way you can make a difference by helping to slow the spread of Covid-19. Booking for the on-campus Covid-19 vaccination clinic has now opened.
We hope that this email has given you the information you need about what life on campus and in the community will be like from September. If you have any further questions please contact the Covid Response Team at covid-19@brookes.ac.uk.
Best wishes
Anne-Marie Kilday
Professor Anne-Marie Kilday
Pro Vice-Chancellor, Student and Staff Experience