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COVID-19 Guidance for Students

Weston College courses will continue to be delivered on site up until 4.30pm on Friday 20th March 2020.

From Monday 23rd March delivery of the majority of our provision will continue to be delivered remotely, but certain facilities will be made available to ensure learners are not disadvantaged in any way.

We will provide you with more detail and information as soon as the guidance on next steps has been issued by Government.

LAST UPDATED: 19 MARCH 2020 2.53PM

Click here to download key contacts for students

Click here to download a students guide to online learning

coronavirus

 

FAQs

Your learning will be supported online through Microsoft Teams. To access the Microsoft Teams site for your course, programme or apprenticeship you will need to login to your College Office 365 account. Full details and guidance on how to do this can be found at the end of this update document.

If the College is open and you are required to self-isolate, you should access work and learning activities through your College Office 365 account.

Your teachers will be setting work for you to complete through your class, subject or course site on Microsoft Teams. Your teachers will be online during your normal timetabled sessions where they will set work, provide feedback and deliver online sessions and tutorials. You should, as a minimum, be logged on during your normal timetabled hours and complete any work set or participate in any online learning activities. Teaching staff will be online as per their normal working pattern. You should familiarise yourself with Microsoft Teams and use the supporting guidance at the end of this document to help you do this.

Whilst key College wide notifications will be posted on the College website all key course or subject information and guidance will be made available in Microsoft Teams.

If the College is open and you are required to self-isolate, you can access work through Microsoft Teams. You can also email and contact your tutor for guidance over the phone.

Office 365 can be accessed through a smart phone, tablet or computer where there is access to the internet. Each curriculum area will provide hard copies of work that can be collected from designated areas during any closure period. Students will be made aware of these prior to any closure and information will be posted on the website. Faculty Deans can be contacted by email or phone via the details outlined later in this guidance.

Students, where the household income is below £32,000 (residual income), may be eligible for an IT bursary. All enquiries regarding this should be to the College Registrar. Their contact details can be found in the key contacts section of this document.

If you are currently self-isolating and do not have access to the required technology, please contact your faculty office by email or phone and they will arrange for hard copies of work to be sent out to you by post.

Managers will have access to all Microsoft Team sites and will be monitoring that teaching, learning and assessment is taking place. You will be able to contact them through the Microsoft Teams site if you have any concerns.

If you are required to self-isolate, please contact the faculty office if you have any concerns regarding the quality of support you are receiving.

All teachers are required to provide a mini plan for learning that covers a four-week period. You should refer to this plan and complete the learning activities and assessments that have been set. You will receive a notification from the tutor if they will not be online because they are unwell with guidance on what they expect you to do. If you are still concerned about your progress you should contact the manager through the contacts in Microsoft Teams and they will get in touch with you to discuss your concerns and address any support needs you might have.

This will be dependent on the period of closure. In a short term closure the teaching teams will prioritise any written assignments or theory-based work that needs to be completed. If the closure period is for an extended period, then the College would be putting in place a timetable whereby individuals and/or small groups of learners can attend the College to complete formative practical assessments prior to any summative assessment. Learners who are due to complete their qualification in the summer of this academic year will be prioritised.

If the College is open and you are self-isolating, then any internal practical assessments will be re-scheduled for when you return to college.

This will be the same process as is outlined in the response above.

The College is liaising with examination boards and awarding bodies to get advice and guidance on how to manage examination and externally assessed units in the event of being asked to close by Government. As information becomes available the College will publish further guidance on its website and through course and subject sites on Microsoft Teams. Teaching staff will be preparing you for these assessments, where practical and appropriate, online through activities including revision. Details for the examinations department are provided in the key contacts section of this guidance document.  

The same principles apply as outlined in points 1 and 2. Your tutor will be online during your normal timetabled class in the event of a College closure.

Trips, external activities and residentials that are planned for the remainder of the year will be postponed. Foreign trips for the remainder of the year will be cancelled due to the current travel restrictions that are in place.

You should continue to attend a work or industry placement where the employer is happy for you to do so. Where they are not happy for you to continue with your placement you should contact your Personal Tutor and Placement Officer, so they are aware. For qualifications where the placement is a mandatory element of the course the College will work with the awarding body on contingencies particularly where the required hours have not yet been reached.

When the College is closed these services will be available remotely through the usual contact numbers and emails during the normal working hours of the College. Out of hours services will remain the same and information on these and all other student support services can be found on the student homepage of SharePoint.

If the College is open and you are self- isolating these services can be contacted by phone or email on the usual numbers. All contact numbers are available on the student homepage of SharePoint and on the contacts page in this document.

Additional learning support and specialist learning support will be in contact with you should the College close to outline how they can support you with the completion of any learning that you are required to access online.

If the College is open and you are self-isolating, you should access work as outlined in points 1 and 2.

If the College is closed for any length of time then bursary payments will continue in the normal way. Any student who is in receipt of a College meals package will have their bursary payment adjusted to include the monetary value for this package.

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