From Professor Richard Reece, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Education & Student Experience

I hope you are well and looking forward to the Winter vacation. For those of you travelling home within the next few days, I wish you a safe and pleasant journey.

Many of you will understandably be interested in our plans for the Spring term and I would like to provide you with some information regarding this.

The Government has now released its guidance for returning students to campus after the Winter vacation period. The Government is recommending that universities implement a staggered return to campus, which will see students returning during January 2021. The purpose of a staggered return is to allow students from across the country to return to their universities in the safest fashion and enable them to be tested for Covid-19 before their face-to-face teaching begins.

We are currently developing our plans for a staggered return to Kent in line with the Government’s recommendations. We will provide further information next week on how the staggered return will be managed and specific details relating to your study programme. This will include when your face-to-face teaching will begin in the Spring term and when your recommended travel window to return to the University will be.

To support this, we will be continuing to provide asymptomatic testing in the New Year, at both Canterbury and Medway campuses. Testing will begin again in early January 2021 and will coincide with our plans for your staggered return. This will enable you all to be tested before your face-to-face teaching begins.

I would like to remind you that the start of Spring term is 18 January 2021 and this is when teaching will start for all undergraduates with the exception of KMMS students who will start earlier. Please ensure you engage with all your teaching sessions from the start of term.

We are planning to provide additional events, activities and services on campus in Spring to support your participation in all aspects of your student experience. This will include social events, development opportunities, ways to engage with fellow students and help to look after your wellbeing. Many of these will be listed in the Events Calendar and new events are added regularly.

Lastly, I would like to thank all of you that have been tested prior to returning home for the Winter vacation period. For those of you staying with us for longer, we still have appointments available should you wish to book for a test in Canterbury or for a test in Medway. More information on asymptomatic testing is available on our Coronavirus webpages.

Best wishes

Richard

Professor Richard Reece | Deputy Vice-Chancellor Education and Student Experience