Page 18 - Mansfield 2019/20

Senior Tutor’s Report
Lucinda Rumsey
Where do I start? A year ago we were feeling a bit smug about doing so well in the Norrington Table (Remember? Fifth!). In March 2020 we were enjoying the Guardian article that asked ‘How did they do it?’ about our success as the Oxford college with the highest state-sector intake. And then the pandemic stopped us in our tracks.
Within a few days of Boris Johnson’s announcement of restrictions we had to arrange for students to be looked after in College during lockdown, or get them back to family homes. Oxford has a reputation for being slow to process change, but under lockdown, exams were swiftly cancelled or postponed, assessments were transformed or moved online.
And we began Trinity term with ‘remote’ teaching. Our tutors worked extraordinarily hard, balancing family commitments at home, and supporting students through the adjustment to tutorials and exams online. Funding earmarked for awards to students travelling abroad for academic research and internships, was used instead to help finalists who had no desk at home, or needed books because they couldn’t get to the library, or sound-cancelling headphones to cut out the noise of family while they were sitting exams.
But when the exam results were published, 29 of our undergraduates got firsts – one more than last year! Many of
our subjects had two or more firsts. We set internal College assessments for first years to replace most of the Prelims examinations, and awarded over 30 scholarships and exhibitions. The Norrington Table will not be published until the new year, but in our current situation, frankly, we have more important concerns.
In this annual report I usually focus on celebrating success. I seldom mention those students who struggle with exams, and who, through ill health or other circumstances, take their finals knowing they
are not going to do themselves justice. There were many of those students in 2019/20, and some, sadly, who suffered family illness and bereavement during the pandemic. I was really impressed by the resilience of our students, who completed their exams under these uniquely tough conditions.
And then it was the middle of August. The Government changed
its mind about A-level grading three times within a week, and Mansfield ended up with 15% more candidates meeting their offers than expected, including students who met their grades after
we had filled all our spaces. Unlucky candidates, and others, were frustrated that we couldn’t fit everyone in this year. We also had to work out how to teach first-year groups, which in some subjects were nearly double their usual size, and to manage College spaces safely so that students could all be accommodated.
A socially distanced tutorial
Where do I stop? As I write, we are making it through Michaelmas term 2020. If you were a student, you can imagine how you’d feel if told you couldn’t drop in and see a friend in another household or another college, or sit where you like at lunch, or use the kitchens – but we are looking after each other, and doing our best. And I feel very lucky; if there has to be a crisis, I am glad to be in a crisis at Mansfield, working with such brilliant and humane colleagues.
To end on a positive note: I have greatly enjoyed the opportunity that ‘remote’ meeting has given us to hold careers events and social events, bringing together alumni and current students and tutors, who usually seldom get the chance to meet up. The pandemic has closed a lot of doors, but the virtual ones it has opened are a treat.
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‘ Our tutors worked extraordinarily hard, balancing family commitments at home, and supporting students through the adjustment to tutorials and exams online. ’