Schools fiasco as next term delayed by a week

Most pupils to learn from home – before teachers test them for Covid

TEACHERS have reacted with horror to plans for all secondary pupils to be tested for Covid at the start of next term.

The last- minute initiative, announced as schools were breaking up, means most teenagers will learn from home until January 11.

Only those facing GCSEs and A-levels in the summer, as well as the children of key workers and those in vulnerable situations, will have face- to- face learning from January 4.

The extra week is to try to give schools time to set up a system of lateral flow testing for all pupils and staff.

But teachers say they are stunned by the scale of the task, which they have only three weeks to plan for. Around 3.4million pupils are enrolled in state secondaries in England.

The Department for Education has not yet issued any guidance but NHS documents suggest teachers might have to fill any of seven different roles in the testing process.

The jobs include team leader, test assistant, processor and Covid-19 coordinator. Schools will also need to set up testing sites, with areas for registration, swabbing, recording and processing.

The NHS believes a ten-minute video, two hours on a training website and a 30-minute practice run will be sufficient for schools to manage the process effectively.

Heads are worried about the red tape required to get consent from students, as well as the legality of performing ‘ invasive medical procedures’.

Paul Whiteman, of the NAHT headteachers’ union, accused the Government of creating a shambolic situation.

‘They have handed schools a confused and chaotic mess at the eleventh hour’, he added.

And in an angry letter to Education Secretary Gavin Williamson, the leaders of the National Education Union accused him of a ‘ridiculous ask of professionals who are exhausted’.

Joint general secretary Dr Mary Bousted said it was ‘a huge task’, pointing to research saying that half of positive cases were missed if the tests were not done by trained medical personnel.

Parents are also likely to be inconvenienced by having their children at home for the first week.

Government sources said limiting the numbers in school would prevent congestion and queuing while waiting for the tests, which could spread a virus predicted to be resurgent after Christmas.

They also said that military planning expertise would be called upon, and that many of the roles needed to set up a testing process could be filled by volunteers.

Mr Williamson said: ‘This targeted testing round will clamp down on the virus as students return from the Christmas break and help stop the spread of Covid19 in the wider community.

‘Building on the fantastic actions that schools and colleges have already taken to be as safe as possible, this additional testing will catch those who have the virus but are not showing symptoms to help schools and colleges stay in control of the virus throughout the spring term.’

His relationship with teachers is at an all-time low after threatening one London borough with legal action when it tried to let schools close early due to high Covid rates.

Greenwich earlier this week was forced to backtrack in the face of a court threat over its advice to schools to switch to remote learning in the last week of term.

NASUWT leader Dr Patrick Roach said: ‘Yet again the Government is announcing significant changes affecting schools with little or no time to prepare before the Christmas closure period.

‘The NASUWT has been clear it is not the responsibility of teachers or school leaders to undertake testing of pupils or employees.’

Geoff Barton of the Association of School and College Leaders said: ‘It beggars belief that this announcement is being made now, right at the end of term. We are very concerned about the feasibility of setting up a testing programme at the scale envisaged.

‘We welcome the limited support we understand will be available, but this is a huge exercise requiring processes to be established and communicated, parental permission to be obtained, and doubtless innumerable other logistical issues to be overcome.

‘We also want an assurance that school staff will not be expected to carry out any invasive medical procedure’, he added.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: ‘Schools are going to be really frustrated this has come at the last moment. What we needed for schools was a plan that started last September.’

■ Only 1.24 per cent of pupils tested positive for coronavirus last month, data showed yesterday.

Results from the Schools Infection Study revealed levels of illness similar to the wider community. More than 100 schools took part, and teachers and pupils were tested in a normal school environment when they did not have any Covid-19 symptoms.

‘Invasive medical procedures’