Council rejects mass school Covid testing
Bosses insist government proposal is ‘unachievable’
COUNCIL bosses in Rochdale have rejected plans for mass Covid testing in secondary schools saying the government’s proposal is unachievable.
Ministers last week announced that from January, staff in all secondaries and colleges will be tested weekly in a bid to prevent the spread and keep pupils in education.
Any staff member or pupil who is deemed to be a close contact of a positive case will be tested daily for seven days, to prevent them having to isolate.
The announcement, which came in the final days of term, sparked outrage among heads and union leaders, who said the move demonstrated ‘ministerial panic rather than rational and responsible action’ and questioned how it would be possible to find and train ‘an army of volunteers’ to administer the tests.
And it received a mixed reaction from parents, many of whom told us they would not give the required consent for their children to be tested.
Now Rochdale Council has advised its schools ‘not to consider setting up testing centres’, but to continue working with the authority on its borough-wide plan.
It says the government’s suggestion ‘is a huge logistical and costly task that is not possible to implement at such short notice’.
Instead, it is planning to have testing hubs at Rochdale Sixth Form and Hopwood Hall College, offering testing to all secondary school staff.
It plans to offer testing to Year 11 students and to ‘schools where there is a major outbreak’ during January, but says ‘there is much to do to make it happen’.
In a letter to secondary school parents, the borough’s director of children’s services Gail Hopper said: “We do not believe that what was suggested by government is achievable.
“Not least of all, because the government guidance identifies nine different new jobs that would be needed in addition to large areas of protected space to undertake testing that is simply not available in our schools and academies.
“It would not be possible for this to be set up between now and 11 January when the schools should now return.”
It is all secondary pupils who the government is suggesting should start back on that date - with just Year 11 and key worker and vulnerable children returning from January 4 as plan. But headteachers are doubtful that an extra week will give them enough time to put mass testing in place and Rochdale Council says it will be too disruptive to schools.
The letter adds: “It is our very firm belief that in the best interest of our children our schools and colleges must continue to concentrate on their role in educating your sons and daughters to help them catch up with the education they have missed during the last nine months of the coronavirus pandemic.
“We do not think this important work should be distracted by this and have advised them not to consider setting up testing centres, but to continue working with us on a borough-wide plan.”
Having spoken to colleagues in Liverpool, where mass testing is already underway, leaders in Rochdale say their plan - to target the four highest risk areas of the borough with rapid tests - would be more ‘achievable’.
“We know parents will want to take all opportunities to reduce the possibility of children being absent from school,” the letter says. “We do too. We have talked in detail with our colleagues in Liverpool who found this very challenging and they had the support of 2,000 armed forces personnel, which we don’t.
“We are developing something that we believe is achievable, without further affecting our children’s education.”
The parent of one secondary student in Rochdale told us the tests are needed to stop the constant disruption to education.
He said: “Since September one of my lad’s friends in the year above has had to isolate three times. The stress on the kids going to that environment every day is telling.”
The government insists it is doing all it can to help schools deliver the tests.
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We recognise the scale of the challenge for schools and colleges in delivering rapid testing for their students, but we expect the vast majority to take up the offer to make education as safe as possible and open for all, as well as help fight the spread of the virus.
“We are scaling up the support of the whole of government to help schools and colleges deliver this, including meeting all reasonable costs, sending them all the equipment and test kits they need, publishing comprehensive training and guidance, running webinars, and armed forces personnel are available to support directly through planning.”