The Southcoast Event Support Team has helped out with moving-in-week at the University of Brighton halls of residence for the past couple of years and this year was no different – only it was. Very different. With the COVID-19 pandemic far from over, plenty of restrictions and guidelines were set in place to make this year’s moving-in-week possible. For starters, this year it was a moving-in-week instead of a moving-in-weekend.
The Southcoast Team assisted at Circus Street Halls of Residence, Welkin Halls of Residence at our Eastbourne site, and both Falmer Halls of Residences, Great Wilkins and Paddock Fields. Throughout the week near these sites, Southcoast’s casual staff could be spotted wearing their University of Brighton branded high-vis yellow jackets, signposting the way to the halls, monitoring carparks, and welcoming the students. Eastbourne lived up to its reputation for being the sunniest town in the UK most of the week, but it was a completely different story in windy Brighton. While the Eastbourne team was sporting shorts and sunglasses, the Brighton team was almost impossible to find under the many layers of clothes.
The first-year students arrived throughout the week at allocated timeslots to avoid too many people arriving at once, clogging up the carparks or walkways. Everywhere, social distance was kept as the students collected their keys, received welcome information, and moved their things into their new home.
The Southcoast Team on-site kept to strict COVID-guidelines: staff wore masks or visors when speaking in close proximity to students, used hand-sanitizer regularly, and stayed mostly outdoors the entire week, only ever showing students to their front door.
Moving-in-week was our first in-person event since February and it provided some perspective on how to conduct live events safely with no end to the pandemic in sight. We loved welcoming the students to University and hope that everyone who has moved into halls this year has settled in well. While we thoroughly enjoyed this year’s moving-in-week, here’s to hoping that next year will be a little less… different.
Until next year!