SCHOOLS TESTING FAILURES
EDUCATION Secretary Gavin Williamson’s great classroom return tomorrow looks set to be plunged into chaos – with huge numbers of children going untested.
A nationwide survey of schools found more than half are struggling to get parents to return completed consent forms for pupils to have swabs.
National Education Union leader Mary Bousted warned: “The arrangements for the mass testing of secondary and post-16 pupils are unravelling.”
Mr Williamson has pinned his hopes on rapid regular tests as a “reliable and effective” tool to help keep schools safe.
He said tomorrow’s reopening would be “a moment of joy for millions”.
So far 57 million lateral flow tests have been sent to schools and colleges.
Nearly 10 million pupils and staff will be reunited in England. And it will spark fresh safety fears as there were 139 Covid-19 deaths of education staff between March and December, official figures show.
Yet the Government has made the twice-weekly lateral tests only voluntary, not compulsory.
Yesterday more than half of 943 schools polled by the Association of School and College Leaders said they had problems getting parental consent.
A second poll of 200 secondaries for ITV News found as few as 18 have consent rates for testing above 95%. Eight out 10 schools say the tests should be compulsory.
ASCL General Secretary Geoff Barton said the consent figures were “worrying” but added it could be down to an “oversight” by parents. But one teacher told us the “vast majority” of pupils at her secondary in Tower Hamlets, East London, had not
WARNING Union leader Mary Bousted consented. The staffer, who did not want to be named, said: “You wonder what’s the point in doing any test if the vast majority of kids aren’t going to have them. Even if they all say no to tests, students can still come in to school and we can’t stop them. Same for staff.”
Vicki Coleman lost sister Donna, 42, to Covid in January after she resumed teaching at Burnley College, Lancs.
Vicki, 45, said: “If parents won’t let their kids be tested, they shouldn’t be allowed in. It should have been a priority for students and teachers to be vaccinated from the start.”
Meanwhile scientists predict a surge in infections when schools return because parents and teachers have not been properly trained in tests. Schools will be expected to carry out the first three, with parents testing twice a week at home after that.
Professor Susan Michie of University College London said children have a more sensitive gag reflex, which makes testing trickier.
The Department for Education urged parents to allow testing.
The Government says schools can stagger the return over the coming week.
A petition calling for school and childcare staff to be on the vaccination priority list has topped half a million signatures.
If parents won’t allow tests, kids should not be let in
VICKI COLEMAN WHO LOST TEACHER SISTER