Covid testing regime will dominate return to lessons in our secondary schools
HEAD TEACHERS TAKING DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO WHEN AND HOW THEY TEST
SCHOOLS are getting ready to open their doors to pupils once again from next Monday, following the lifting of the latest lockdown but with Covid testing high on the agenda.
The Government has said that secondary school pupils should have three tests administered by a school before being given two lateral flow tests (which give results in 30 minutes) to use each week at home.
Secondary schools are allowed to stagger the return over a week, to allow Covid testing to be carried out. But some schools have already started testing this week or are about to begin today.
All primary and secondary school staff are also being offered twiceweekly rapid tests. People in the household, childcare bubble or support bubble of staff or pupils can also get a twice-weekly test.
But testing is not compulsory and not having a test will not mean children cannot attend lessons.
Additionally, secondary pupils should be armed with masks as the Government recommendation is for them to be worn in lessons – previously it was just in corridors and communal areas – until Easter at least.
‘Uptake of tests is currently about 80%’
At Lees Brook Community School in Chaddesden, pupils have been timetabled to attend twice this week to have their initial two tests. They will have their third test when they return from Monday.
Head teacher Zoe House wrote online to parents and said: “I have been particularly pleased with the uptake of the tests, which is currently at about 80%.
“During the testing, students have been fantastic. I have been extremely proud of them.
“On Monday, all students will return into school. They will attend at the same time and will enter the school through the same gates as before the Christmas holiday.”
‘If they have a negative test, they can return following day’
At Littleover Community School, from Monday, it has been decided to administer lateral flow tests to pupils the day before they are due to start back to lessons.
They will leave the school site immediately after their test and if they have a negative test, they can return to lessons the following day. Those with a positive test must selfisolate.
Acting head teacher Jon Wilding said: “Students will have three tests but the timings of tests two and
three will depend when the first tests are completed but they will take place during the school day.”
‘All eager for a more normal face-to-face way of working’
Derby Moor Academy,in Littleover, is also carrying out its testing of pupils next week as they return to lessons.
Principal Scott Doyle said: “We will phase students back into school to allow them space to remember the routines and to allow us to test
year groups as they return.
“Years 12 and 13 students will be offered tests before returning on Friday (today).
“As well as face coverings being worn, we intend to have more windows open than during autumn which will allow greater movement of air.
“After seven weeks of online learning, I think we are all eager to return to a more ‘normal’ face-to-face way of working. Whilst digital platforms and activities can temporarily replace classroom learning it does not really compare to the experience students get from attending school.”
‘Everyone will be back by the end of next week’
Gemma Penny, head of Allestree Woodlands School, said she was starting testing this week soon after the return to school was announced by the Prime Minister on February 22.
She said: “We are phasing the return but everyone will be back by the end of next week.
“Wearing masks in lessons is a big ask but, at this time, if it means we can have students back in school, learning, it’s what we must do.
“We changed the structure of our school day last summer so everyone gets two longer breaks where they can go outside, get fresh air and will not be required to wear masks.
“For us, this time is really important as we want our youngsters to rekindle their friendships, be able to run around and have a kickabout outside and feel that there is a little bit of normality.
“Our students have done an amazing job with online learning in the first half term but we know they are ready to be back at school and the vast majority cannot wait to get back into classrooms, with their friends and teachers and make the most of the rest of this academic year.”
‘We will be testing 450 staff or students every day’
At the county’s biggest secondary school, John Port Spencer Academy, with 2,000 pupils, they will have the chance to be tested during next week from Monday.
They are having a phased return starting with Year 11 pupils on Monday, and their tests will be repeated on the same day in the following two weeks.
The principal of the Etwall school, Karen Squire, said: “During the next three weeks we will be testing 450 staff/students every day. We are very fortunate to have some wonderful volunteers. However, some of the positions must be filled by academy staff for data protection reasons.
“This will mean that our pastoral staff and senior leaders will be involved in testing to ensure the teaching is uninterrupted.
“Hopefully this will be end of home learning and we can get the students back in school where they belong.”
DERBY’S Caribbean community is being urged to overlook mistrust and disinformation and not to fear the Covid-19 vaccines.
Community leaders in the city have sought to quash and debunk theories about the vaccines not catering for the black community and have spoken of the impact of science on health and wellbeing in a bid to overcome hesitancy.
This comes as NHS England figures show that out of the total jabs administered in Derby and Derbyshire so far, just 5.89% were to black, Asian and minority ethnic residents, despite the BAME population representing 14.45% of the county and city as of the 2011 census.
However, uptake of the vaccine in the city’s residents of a Caribbean heritage is said to be high, a community leader has said, with hesitancy present but not proving a roadblock.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service spoke to the Derby West Indian Community Association, which is also responsible for the city’s annual Caribbean carnival.
Its chairman since 1986 is George Mighty, aged 85, who has been an influential figure in the community for decades. Mr Mighty says there is hesitancy about vaccination in every community, not just those with a BAME heritage. He urged everyone to take up the vaccine when it is offered to them.
He said disinformation and myths about the vaccine were having an impact on the younger community and claimed some were responsible for passing this on to elderly relatives.
Mr Mighty, who moved to Derby from Jamaica in 1961, said deeplyheld Christian beliefs were holding back some of the city’s Caribbean community from taking up vaccines.
He said: “A few people I have come across who don’t want to take the vaccine say it is on religious grounds. There are long-standing issues around that, but not as much around disinformation, because a lot of these people don’t have a telly.
“Those who have any hesitancy at all, once we have talked to them and told them the reason why they should and telling them that we have taken it ourselves, that has changed their minds.
“We talk to them about the development of science. We are living longer these days. If it wasn’t for that development people were living for just 30 years and so it is because of that people are realising that the vaccine is something that has gone through that (development) process and that there is nothing wrong with it.
“Some people have the deep religious belief that God will save them from these things. They think that the Bible tells them not to take certain things, including people who do not take blood (transfusions).
“The older generation is more likely to change its behaviour by taking the vaccine and it’s the younger generation who spread misinformation on Facebook and other things. They are the ones causing the problem because somewhere along the line someone tells them that they are going to put a microchip in the vaccine, and that is where most of the problem is.
“Young people then try and tell their older generation not to take it.”
Mr Mighty, who was Derby’s first black teacher in 1974, said: “I am actually convinced that much more minority people are taking the vaccine than is being put out there.
“I can vouch for the people around me who were hesitant but are still taking it. When all the research is in I think it will show that a higher percentage of black people have taken it.
“In all communities which have hesitancy there are community leaders and people within the health profession who are doing a good job by encouraging people to take the vaccine and little by little they are realising that they need to take it.
“Probably the idea that later on if you want to travel you might need certification (of the vaccine) is also one of the things around why it is a good thing to do.
“There are long-standing issues around mistrust, which started with birth control but we have overcome those and I don’t think that is the issue here, but there could be deep long-standing issues around that.
“I don’t think racism is involved here. When it comes to health and wellbeing we know that health is a common ground between nations, we all see people sick within our communities and we see them die as well, so we know we have to seek medicine and a cure.”
Mr Mighty, who was awarded an MBE in 1990, had his first vaccine dose in mid-December and is due to get his second dose later this week.
He said: “All of us had hesitancy at the beginning, first over the fact that the vaccine was developed so quickly when we know vaccines usually take years to develop. White people had concerns about that as well.
“Everybody was frightened about it, but I have no fear. I understand science, I have no fear of taking these things when I feel it is going to help me. All the people in our membership who were hesitant have gone and taken it.”
Adam Slater, aged 24, who is an elders officer for the association, helps to deliver hot meals to around 200 residents a week.
Mr Slater, who is mixed-race with parents from Jamaica and Nigeria, said: “The statistics say that it is the black community which is the most hesitant. “I think a lot of people have taken it, and of the people who said they weren’t taking it some talked about religion but I think the big one is about what might be in the vaccine and medical differences between black and white people, that made them more hesitant.
“One woman I spoke to, in her 20s, who was talking on behalf of her grandad, came out with this funny line that ‘what might be good for Doris might not be good for Delroy.’
“They were worried that it hadn’t been trialled on black people and some say it is historical experiences of racist issues with healthcare professionals in the past, and government mistrust.
“There are a lot of different reasons and religion is a big part of it. Some have a God’s will mentality of what will be, will be and let’s put it in the hands of God.
“A few people I called up wanted to wait and see how people who had the vaccine got on after a year. “I think there should be more direct responses to people’s issues and debunk a lot of these theories, a lot of which crop up online. There is a lot of misinformation.”
Mr Slater said: “It does sadden me because the vaccine is the way out of this and if you care about the black community there will be many who will not be safe in a future world if we don’t take the vaccine. It is such a shame that our society is like this and there is that mistrust in authority.
“We shouldn’t live in a society that makes people feel this way.
“A lot of these people who I speak to are 80-year-olds or over and don’t really have access to the internet, so it is even more worrying that they are deciding that they have such government mistrust, regardless of not seeing the disinformation, which would suggest it is more of an historical mistrust. Especially people who came over in the 60s and had to deal with all of the racism in that period. I know a lot of them look back on those times and it has kind of scarred them for life.”
Derby West Indian Community Association is hosting a virtual meeting on Friday, March 12, from 7pm-8.30pm at which health professionals will be sharing information and answering questions about the vaccine. You can join the virtual meeting by using Zoom with the meeting ID 389 423 2151 and passcode 372180.
There are long-standing issues around mistrust but we have overcome those and I don’t think that is the issue here. George Mighty