[ 2021-02-28 ]

32m Covid tests by post to reopen schools
Millions of families with school-age children are
to be offered rapid Covid-19 tests twice a week in
a blitz designed to help schools to open safely.

The government will launch nationwide “surge”
testing from tomorrow, under which up to 32
million lateral flow tests will be sent by post to
parents every week. Entire families and households
with primary school, secondary school and
college-age children, including childcare and
support bubbles, will be able to test themselves
twice every week at home as schools return. Test
kits can also be collected from 500 local sites.

The offer to almost 16 million people is an
attempt to stop the infection rate rising when
pupils return to the classroom next week. It aims
to provide reassurance as a poll shows one in five
parents say they will not be sending their
children back to class.


However, a separate in-school testing regime has
alarmed headteachers who say it is to delay the
start of teaching for up to a week.

Under government guidelines, all secondary pupils
have to be tested four times by the end of the
first two weeks back. The first three tests take
place in school and the fourth at home, after
which pupils will be tested twice a week at home.

In an attempt to avert chaos, Gavin Williamson,
the education secretary, has urged head teachers
to open their doors this week to start the tests.
Some opened last week after education department
approval.

Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the
Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL),
said in-school testing was so onerous it risked
turning classrooms into “field hospitals”. He
said: “We shouldn’t expect that on the 8th all
pupils will be back in.”

Steve Chalke, the chief executive of Oasis, one of
the largest academy trusts, with 52 schools,
feared that disruption would mean children getting
only one or two weeks of learning before the
Easter holidays.

A poll by the research company Focaldata has found
that 17 per cent of parents are planning not to
send their children back to school. Some 41 per
cent do not believe it is safe for children to
return to school on March 8, and 57 per cent think
it may lead to a surge in coronavirus infections.

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Almost two thirds (61 per cent) of those polled
said that schools should return only once teachers
had been vaccinated, and 78 per cent of
respondents said they supported pupils being
tested twice a week.

Barnaby Lenon, chief executive of the Independent
Schools Council, said some private schools had
chosen not to open before Easter but would
continue teaching pupils online.

“I understand why a school might not want to
reopen fully. There are only two weeks of term
left, and they are getting on well with online
teaching,” he said.

Lenon said some boarding schools had also decided
not to reopen and instead would have a longer
summer term because many of their pupils were
stranded overseas and cannot return easily.

To minimise the risk of infection, ministers have
ordered that all secondary pupils must wear masks
in classrooms as well as in communal areas.

Source - The Sunday Times, UK

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