SENIOR TUTOR’S REPORT

Dr Penny Barton

s I wrote last year’s report, we were coming up to Christmas 2021 and COVID was beginning to rise exponentially again, ruining many festive plans for a second year. By early in 2022 we were much more back to normal in terms of students in residence, but, looking back at my calendar, I was once again meeting people on Zoom for most of the day, albeit mainly from my office rather than from home.

During Lent we had a number of students personally affected by the invasion of Ukraine, and put into traumatic situations with fear for the safety of loved ones and more practical difficulties of funds frozen or severed communications. Those affected were not all Ukrainian nationals – it was clear that there were also students from the UK and elsewhere with family connections on one or both sides of the conflict, and all we could do was to offer support in any way we could.

In early March the College community was devastated by the tragic death of a much-loved undergraduate, and this event still casts a shadow of sadness over the College, for both staff and students. This was yet another blow to the cohort who arrived in Cambridge in the chaos of teacher assessed grades, and suffered the infamous ‘West House Lockdown’ in 2020.

Our spectacular new dining hall and Buttery were opened for the Easter Term – students quickly colonised the new Buttery as a favourite working space. The focus of the College moved westward with the new buildings, and the Cavendish buildings now seem a bit of a

Abackwater. We are working on repurposing the Great Hall as a venue for performance and social events, and in Michaelmas 2022 the old Buttery was opened as a spacious Junior Common Room and an HQ for HUS – a great success as a low key socialising and study space.

Many exams returned to their pre-pandemic formats in 2022, and on the whole our students did rather well. During the 2021–22 academic year we had around three times as many intermissions as usual, as students struggled with the legacy of fragmented learning and a life that did not measure up to the normal ‘Cambridge Experience’ in so many ways.

The year ended with the fun of May Week, and General Admission (graduation) almost back to normal. During the year there have been several extra ‘catch-up’ Congregations for graduands at every level who missed out during COVID, and these have been much enjoyed.

With all the difficulties society is facing, the university and colleges, Homerton included, are putting much greater stress on the importance of wellbeing. We certainly notice that perfectionism is rife, leading to anxiety and paralysis, and I am often in the slightly odd situation of trying to persuade students to lower their standards. Although we have a strong pastoral structure of the College, and have an excellent and expanded team of undergraduate and postgraduate Tutors, we have also recently appointed a Wellbeing Coordinator, who is already making an impact with her focus on the Wellbeing of both students and staff n

In loving memory of Daniel Fry 2001–2022