4,000 Covid tests as students return
HASLINGDEN High school carried out more than 4,000 Covid-19 tests in the first two weeks of students returning.
The gym was transformed into a ten-bay efficient testing station, thanks to the help of 22 volunteers and several members of staff.
Parents had to give permission for the tests to take place and all students returned home after their first test while the results were obtained.
When the students returned a negative result, they were able to return to study full-time in school the following day.
Student Services Officer Jo Shepherd became Covid-19 Team Leader to ensure everything ran smoothly.
Jo said: “We even had a volunteer who works for the Test and Trace service and he was very interested to see how our station operates.”
One of the volunteers helping to run the testing bays is Dee Mellish, who has two children, one of whom attends the school.
She said: “I am a freelance Spanish teacher and a full-time mother. I volunteered because I just wanted to help. I want to help the school to get back to normal.”
After attending his test George Phillips, 13, said: “I have had a few of these tests before, when I had Covid-like symptoms and when I was in hospital with an eye problem. They have always come back negative. The mouth swab is fine, but the nose one makes my eyes water. When they said we could come back into school I was relieved. My favourite subject is history, 100 per cent. My mother is a historian and we have been to the First World War battlefields and the Commonwealth Graveyards and my History teacher, Mr Gizzi, makes it really fun. When we all finally returned last Thursday, it was weird going back into the classroom as my comfortable chair had been replaced by a plastic one and a plastic desk. The working environment is so much better in school than at home on Zoom. At home I couldn’t concentrate.”
The Valley’s Covid-19 infection rate rose over the past seven days after 62 new infections were reported in the week to March, up from 47 the week before, giving Rossendale the fourth highest rate in Lancashire behind Preston, Blackburn with Darwen and South Ribble. The majority of the county is now seeing infection rates rise once again.