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The Government has advised that some courses can resume in-person teaching from 8 March; with plans for other courses to be confirmed around Easter. This guidance is not expected until 5 April at the earliest. Updates will be posted here and on the main University COVID-19 pages as soon as possible.
Please consult the Student Coronavirus pages of the university website for detailed information about teaching and learning, returning to Oxford, and arrangements for Trinity Term.
All existing requirements for social distancing and use of face coverings, remains in place. For more information please see the University's local restrictions page or the government website for details on these restrictions.
If you have COVID-19 symptoms
You should book a test through the Early Alert System (EAS) and self-isolate immediately: https://earlyalert.medsci.ox.ac.uk/earlyalert/booking/bookpcr
If for any reason you need to book a test via the NHS (e.g. when the EAS service is closed), please use https://www.gov.uk/get-coronavirus-test
You should only leave your accommodation to attend the test. The test result will usually be returned within 24hrs and we ask that you please keep us updated with information you receive from the testing service by emailing: covid.management@trinity.ox.ac.uk
Please don't hesitate to contact the college Covid-19 response team with any questions regarding testing, quarantine or food delivery during self isolation by emailing: covid.management@trinity.ox.ac.uk
On Monday 22 February, the UK Government confirmed that students will be allowed to return from 8 March to take part in practical teaching, access specialist facilities, or complete assessments. It will also review the options for timing of the return of all other students by the end of the Easter holidays.
Further details about who is eligible to return and when can be found on the University's Student Coronavirus pages. These pages also contain the latest information about exams, library access, COVID-19 testing arrangements, and student life.
All students returning to Oxford will be offered two COVID-19 tests: on the day you arrive, and 3 days later.
Please contact the following staff if you have any questions:
Accommodation and testing enquiries: Louise Turner at louise.turner@trinity.ox.ac.uk General enquiries: Lynne Adam at lynne.adam@trinity.ox.ac.uk
While the national lockdown is being progressively eased, there will continue to be significant restrictions on what we can and cannot do for some time.
This means that student life in Trinity term will mean college life and activities will be limited to reflect the risk of COVID transmission. The plans below are subject to change as government policy and COVID restrictions evolve.
Further guidance
The information and resources below will ensure you understand the measures Trinity and the University are undertaking to keep you safe, while allowing you to continue to pursue the academic and social activities that are central to your life in Oxford and at Trinity:
The dining hall, kitchen and Beer Cellar will be closed from Monday 15th March through Sunday 11th April and no meals will be available.
Temporary onsite student kitchens will remain in place.
The dining hall will be open for lunch only; serving will be available for onsite students from 12:00 to 12:30pm.
The Beer Cellar will open for coffee, sandwiches and snacks until further notice (see details below).
Full meals service in hall will resume for student from both onsite and offsite properties; this will continue until further notice.
At this point temporary student kitchens will be removed and microwaves will be available for use in the Annexe.
Students from offsite properties will now be able to use onsite facilities until further notice.
Breakfast Monday to Friday; 2 Sittings: 8am – 8.30am and 8.30am – 9am To book: sign up online 24 hours prior, with payment at the Till with a Bod card.
Luch Monday to Friday; 3 Sittings: 12.00 - 12.30pm, 12.30pm – 1pm and 1pm – 1.30pm To book: sign up online 24 hours prior, with payment at the Till with a Bod card.
Dinner Monday to Sunday; 3 Sittings: 6pm - 6.30pm, 6.30pm – 7pm and 7pm – 7.30pm To book: sign up and payment online, 24 hours prior.
Brunch Saturday and Sunday; 4 Sittings: 10.30am – 11am, 11am – 11.30am, 11.30am – 12.00, 12.00 – 12.30pm To book: sign up online 24 hours prior, with payment at the Till with a Bod card.
To book into your meal, visit https://www2.trinity.ox.ac.uk and follow instructions for signing up.
There are a maximum of 24 places available for each sitting, with 30 minutes available to have your meal. Whichever sitting you sign up for, please be sure to arrive promptly, but not before the start time for that sitting. If you have not signed up, you will not be able to dine in Hall.
The cutoff time for all online sign-up meals is now 24 hours prior to that sitting.
Dinner (but not Breakfast and Lunch) will be a set price (£4.99), and once you have signed up, you will be charged for the meal, unless you cancel before the cut-off deadline. (Now 24 hours prior).
Households are able to sit together in Hall. You must specify your Household number when signing up.
There are unfortunately no guest spaces available for any of the online sign-up meals.
Gowns are not required, but Members are expected to be tidily dressed for all meals in Hall.
COVID restrictions are still and will remain in place throughout Trinity Term, but will continue to be reviewed in line with Government and University guidelines.
These consist of:
There will be no Beer Cellar service from Monday 15th March through Sunday 11th April.
From Monday 12th April the Beer Cellar will be open for coffees, sandwiches and snacks until further notice on a takeaway basis only. Opening hours will be as follows:
Monday through Sunday, 10:00 to 11:45am Open to all for takeaway
Monday Through Sunday, 11:45am to 1pm Open for College staff lunch only
Monday to Sunday, 1pm to 3pm Open to all for takeaway
In term time the Beer Cellar will operate an evening take-away drinks service (hours tbc). Students may purchase alcoholic drinks to take into the marquee. As with other hospitality services, drinks must be consumed in the marquee and not taken away to rooms or other indoor venues. The rule of six (with social distancing in effect for members outside the same household) will apply at all times. Members of a single household can continue to gather and consume drinks in the marquee without the need for social distancing, but no household group mixing should occur.
All students returning to Oxford will have the opportunity to be tested for COVID-19 when they return.
You will be expected to take two Lateral Flow Device (LFD) tests when you return to Oxford – on the first day you arrive and one three days later.
The University also expects to be able to offer regular asymptomatic testing to all students as well as staff working on-site from Trinity term. Details about this will follow in the near future.
You should only resume in-person teaching after you have taken two tests and reported negative results; and should factor this into your travel plans.
All students are expected to take the tests when they return to Oxford. This includes postgraduate research and part-time students.
You should take them even if you have recently received a negative COVID-19 test result. You should not take the tests if:
We also expect to be able to offer regular asymptomatic testing to all students as well as staff working on-site from Trinity term. Details about this will follow in the near future.
Please consult the University's student coronavirus pages for the latest updates.
If you’re travelling from overseas you must quarantine for 10 days. What you need to do depends on where you travel in the 10 days before you arrive in England.
If you travel from or through a country on the 'red list travel countries, in those 10 days you will need to quarantine in a managed quarantine hotel. Please visit https://www.gov.uk/uk-border-control/self-isolating-when-you-arrive for further details on how to book.
If you are not travelling from or through a country on the 'red list', then you can quarantine for 10 days in your term-time room in Oxford.
Everyone must book a travel test package (regardless of which overseas country you are travelling from). You must take a COVID-19 test on or before day 2 for variant surveillance and a test on or after day 8 to check that you do not have COVID-19.
During quarantine, please remain in your room except when you need to use the bathroom, and fully clean shared bathrooms before and after use. If you wish to go outside, you are welcome to use the President’s Garden if you are in an onsite room by booking in a time slot. If you are in one of our outside properties, please use the garden there. In both cases you should avoid contact with others, and practice social distancing at all times.
Students who are in quarantine on site in college will be offered support with meals during quarantine. Students who live offsite should ask friends to help with food deliveries and meals.
As for Michaelmas term, students will be grouped into ‘households’ within college accommodation; these are defined by close proximity and/or sharing high-contact spaces like kitchens or bathrooms. Most importantly, you cannot merge households with anyone else. Visits between households – even socially distanced – cannot be accommodated indoors because of the greater risk of cross-infection.
You can book breakfast, lunch and dinner in Hall and sit together as a Household.
From 29 March, government guidance allows for outdoor socialising keeping to the ‘rule of six’ or two households – with members from different households still required to keep a distance of 2m. In college, we are asking you to stick to the ‘rule of 6’ at all times outdoors when outside your household on college grounds. This is because the college environment is different than normal ‘household’ environments: college households are on average larger, the density of people living together is higher, and colleges are places of employment as well as residential areas.
When you are outside college, we also ask you to be sensitive to the local community and not travel around the city in large groups (even if you are only two households).
For more detail on household guidance, see the University’s COVID accommodation pages.
The Lawns Pavilion reading room will be open 8am-midnight daily from 0th week. Face coverings will need to be worn and students must clean their desks before and after use with the wipes provided.
The Library will remain closed to readers because of the challenge of social distancing in a working space, but the Library team will provide a Click & Collect book service, which students can request by email.
Please note that we will be applying a social distance of 2 metres at all times. Masks and social distancing will be required in indoor shared spaces such as reading rooms.
The college will be closed to all non-college members (with the exception of students from other colleges visiting for teaching) to minimise the possibility of infection spread; we will keep this under review. Trinity students who live offsite may enter the Broad Street site from 19th April onwards.
The gardens may be used by college members adhering to social distancing of 2m and the 'rule of six' for those outside a single household; an outdoor marquee will provide additional space for socially-distanced group meetings and socialising.
Informal sport: As of 29 March outdoor sports facilities are allowed to open for informal activity; the college sports ground, tennis courts and croquet lawn are being prepared to open for the start of April – please remember these can be used in groups of up to six, with social distancing in effect.
Formal organised sport: in line with government advice, formally organised outdoor sport is able to resume from Monday 29 March, provided that appropriate steps are taken to make it COVID-Secure in line with the law. The college Boat Club will be able to resume activity and the college boathouse will be open from Monday 29th, and other college sport clubs that have completed risk assessments in line with national sport governing bodies can also resume training. (Please contact your team captain about resuming training.)
Please note: while formal organised sport can take place with larger numbers of participants, you should revert to social distancing and the rule of six / two household rule when travelling to and from sporting activity, in accordance with government guidance. Team socialising outside sports training is not allowed.
The college gyms will be open for Trinity Term; arrangements will be confirmed soon.
If you think you might have COVID-19 symptoms, you should follow University guidance on testing, and self-isolate. You should contact the Covid Management team in college to alert them that you are feeling unwell and need support: covid.management@trinity.ox.ac.uk
The University is offering rapid-turnaround on-site testing for staff and students in two locations. In most cases you should be able to get a test on the same or next day and results within 24 hours of the test. Students who are unable to safely access the two University testing pods can also request a test through the NHS – and should report a positive test result from outside the University service through an online form available here.
If a member of the household has coronavirus symptoms, all members of the household must also self-isolate for ten days while you wait for the test and result. If the result is positive, you and your household must self-isolate in case any members are also incubating the virus.
Please don’t worry if you or your household has to self-isolate; we will be in regular contact with households who have been asked to self-isolate, and will make all necessary arrangements to ensure you are supported.
If you need assistance, and are not sure who to contact, please call the Lodge at any time on 01865 279900
If you need Wellbeing support at any time, please don’t hesitate to contact the Wellbeing team at wellbeing@trinity.ox.ac.uk
Place an order via Louise Turner at Louise.Turner@trinity.ox.ac.uk
lace an order via Louise Turner at Louise.Turner@trinity.ox.ac.uk
Food deliveries for onsite students will be prepared by the College kitchen, and delivered to your door by the Hall team (Lodge on Saturday and Sunday)
Yes, as you are self-isolating as a household, you can all continue to use the kitchen. Please clean before and after use, and do not use a kitchen which has been allocated to other households.
Online food orders can be placed with all of the major supermarkets, or ask friends in other households to shop for you.
When moving around communal areas, please wear a mask and maintain 2m distance at all times.
Please email your Director of Studies and Isabel.lough@trinity.ox.ac.uk (undergraduates) or Ashley.maguire@trinity.ox.ac.uk (graduates), so they know you will be following teaching online.
If you require IT support so that you are able to log into online teaching, please contact Alastair Johnson, IT Manager Alastair.johnson@trinity.ox.ac.uk.
At Trinity, the health and wellbeing of our College community is our top priority. We are here to help all members enjoy the many cultural, academic and international resources of being in Oxford by making creative, COVID-safe adjustments to the way we live, learn, socialise and work.
We all feel lonely and down sometimes, so use the opportunities there are for meeting and walking outdoors in College Gardens or one the many Oxford parks (the University Parks, Port Meadow, Christ Church Meadow or South Park), socially distanced if you’re with friends from other households.
You may feel alone, but you are not alone! Reach out and be positive: there is always someone to talk to. Your friends, College household, Peer Supporters, Welfare Reps, and the Junior Deans out-of-hours (contactable via the Lodge) are there for you.
If you have to self-isolate because of COVID-19 please don’t worry! We will reach out to you with support, advice and practical help. But life goes on regardless of COVID-19. Reach out if you are anxious or worried about anything, COVID-19 or not. You’ll find our contact details are on the website Wellbeing pages and please don’t forget the Lodge: 01865-279900; the porters are always ready to help!
If you are feeling low or looking for strategies to take care of your own mental health, there are a number of resources available:
If you are feeling unwell, you should contact the College nurse or doctor as detailed in the College handbook. Any consultations with the nurse or doctor are entirely confidential. Please also see our website for further information www.trinity.ox.ac.uk/support-and-welfare
No, the College Nurse and Doctor will be operating an online appointment system only. Please visit the website Wellbeing pages for more detail.
If the Doctor or Nurse thinks you need a clinical assessment in person, they will arrange this in the appropriate place.
No. As with all clinical consultations in all settings nationwide, all initial consultations will be remote, by appointment.
Covid19 is not the only illness that can make you unwell. If your symptoms are worsening and causing you concern, you need to seek NHS help. If you are in college you should call the lodge (01865 279900) who will help you contact the college nurse or doctor, advise you to call 111, or will make a 999 call on your behalf. If you live outside college, contact your NHS general practitioner, call 111, or in emergency dial 999.
For emergency medical attention outside college, call 999 and ask for the ambulance service. If you have an emergency in college, it’s best to call the Lodge (01865-279900), as they can call 999 for you and direct the ambulance to exactly where you are.
As a college of Oxford University, Trinity is committed to fostering an inclusive culture which promotes equality, values diversity and maintains a working, learning and social environment in which the rights and dignity of all its students and staff are respected.
Adapting to life in the University and the city of Oxford under COVID-19 safety measures is new to everyone. We all will need to develop new habits and make adjustments to our daily life to enable academic learning. In doing so we need to treat each other with patience and understanding.
Sometimes things do go wrong, or someone else’s actions unjustifiably disrupts the lives of others. In a college community everyone has a responsibility to take care in relation to themselves and others. In a physically compressed environment like Trinity, together with the pressures of Oxford life in a global pandemic, it is even more important to be aware that your actions will affect others in college.
Should you believe that someone’s conduct is persistently and unreasonably creating serious risk, in the first instance speak with the Wellbeing Advisor. She can identify what appropriate next steps can be taken, for example a discussion with the individual about their behaviour and if necessary referral for action to be taken under the relevant disciplinary framework.
However please also bear in mind that every circumstance will be different and any response must be appropriate and proportionate. For instance, if you are worried about someone not wearing a face covering in shared indoor space or not following distancing requirements, they may have justification for this, such as a health condition. It is important you remain mindful of possible valid reasons for not wearing a mask, and not challenge an individual about this, no matter how tactfully.
We take seriously our role in protecting our community’s health and support our collective wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore students who refuse to sign the Student Responsibility Agreement will not be permitted to reside in college accommodation or enter college property. Any student not signing the Student Responsibility Agreement will be expected to continue their course online only for college provided teaching, while departments may take additional action. If you have any concerns about signing the agreement, the Dean or President would be happy to discuss them.
Any discussions about studying from home or exemptions from living in college residence should be directed to the Senior Tutor.
Trinity College is resolute in its commitment to supporting its students throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. We have worked closely with the University and Oxford SU as the University’s student representative body to develop a range of health measures to keep everyone safe.
All students have been asked to sign the COVID-19 Student Responsibility Agreement. That Agreement is the University’s way of asking students to affirm their commitment to protecting our community.
Adherence to the Agreement is important as a matter of public health and to help avoid local lockdown measures for the city. It is especially important to help protect people in the college and university (including staff and students) and in the wider community with health conditions and other characteristics and circumstances that make them more vulnerable to severe symptoms and death from COVID-19.
We hope that students will want to keep our community safe and that the overwhelming majority will follow the guidance closely. However, students who do not follow government, university or college regulations on COVID-19 safety may be subject to sanctions.
Indicative possible sanctions outlined below are subject to consideration by the Dean of the context, circumstances and severity of infringements. They are designed to respond to a range of circumstances, from an accidental infringement by someone who is clearly trying to keep to the rules, to a deliberately reckless and serious breach which will necessitate a substantial sanction. Possible sanctions available to the Dean include, but are not limited to:
Sanctions 3) and 4) are designed primarily to improve the safety of others rather than punish transgressors.
Please note: The college code of conduct, decanal policy and procedures and complaints procedure as set out in the handbook continue to apply. For details, see: College Handbook 20 21 FINAL
For all the latest COVID-19 guidance and updates, please ensure you visit the Trinity COVID-19 web pages, and please read any emails with College guidance carefully.
Please bookmark the following pages which contain important COVID-19 information that will be updated regularly:
Trinity College student COVID-19 pages: www.trinity.ox.ac.uk/support-and-welfare/covid19/covid-19-advice-for-students/
Oxford University student COVID-19 pages: www.ox.ac.uk/coronavirus/students
Oxford University information about student life and colleges: www.ox.ac.uk/coronavirus/students/colleges
COVID-19 Student Responsibility Agreement: www.ox.ac.uk/coronavirus/students/agreement
Testing for COVID-19: Early Alert Service: www.ox.ac.uk/coronavirus/health/covid-testing
NHS advice around self-isolation and treatment for COVID-19: www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/self-isolation-and-treatment/
