Exclusive: DfE considering delay to start of next term

[herecomestheSon]

www.tes.com/news/exclusive-dfe-considering-delay-start-next-term?fbclid=IwAR1QLOa7VrpJz2QeOpMo90R45SfwOfIPsr9pI_SMYEoClaJwJuAjbGB9cB8

According to the Times Educational Supplement.

Yesterday the NEU teaching union urged the government to move teaching online for the first week of next term to give schools enough time to train staff in administering Covid-19 tests.

The Department for Education is expected to make an announcement about the potential later start tomorrow, according to sources close to the DfE.

I thought it would interest you lot.

As I said, I work in a secondary school and would happily come in earlier to do this or to supervise or whatever, as long as the kids stay in school. I don’t expect to be paid extra for it.

Maybe it will replace the time they’re spending contact tracing.That they’re also not paid for.

Honestly if that's how it turned out I'd be pleasantly surprised. I sense contact tracing AND conducting testing coming down the line for English teachers! Along with the already huge workload.

An extra week at home isn't the end of the world for secondary aged dcs. It's 5 days. However they can't expect teacher's to do this testing or supervise it, the kids will tell them to fuck off!

@PurpleDaisies

Why aren’t the NEU pushing for not school staff to be doing these tests? Surely this is not a teacher role?

Surely it constitutes a major change to their job description as per their contracts. Don’t changes like that have to be negotiated, and agreed, with staff in advance?

@Waxonwaxoff0

I can't see testing in primary schools being a success. Getting children as young as 4 to do those tests isn't going to be easy!

I was thinking the same. My 5 year old was hysterical getting his a few weeks ago. There's no way someone other than me or his dad would be able to do it.

Having had to literally pin my child down to swab his nose I can't see this working in primaries at all.

Fine with online for secondary only. Had thought it made sense anyway.

Oh I thought testing was secondary only.

I couldn’t do my 10 year old’s - he had to. It was pretty bad for him.

I wonder as a school governor I would be asked to help out with this

@whataballbag

Having had to literally pin my child down to swab his nose I can't see this working in primaries at all.

not in a million years except possibly years 5 and 6.

Having subjected DS (4) to three tests already, I can't do it again. I'd rather isolate him.

ECV DH is so close to a vaccine, so my DS will not be going into school that first, maybe second week of term. My area is currently top 5 for rates, and I don't see how they'll reduce over Christmas without a lockdown of some kind.

as a DBS checked parent with very little (self employed) work atm I have to say I would volunteer if it helped keep the kids in school.

@PurpleDaisies

Why aren’t the NEU pushing for not school staff to be doing these tests? Surely this is not a teacher role?

I suspect they think 'well, Support Staff will be doing them, not teachers, so not our problem remit'.

@Frouby

An extra week at home isn't the end of the world for secondary aged dcs. It's 5 days. However they can't expect teacher's to do this testing or supervise it, the kids will tell them to fuck off!

It is when they’ve already been off for nearly 7 weeks this term. One week fine, but for many, they’ve already been off for weeks and weeks.

No bloody way should teachers allow their union push them into administering the tests! They're not medical professionals - what happens if they do it wrong or hurt a child sticking the swab up their nose??? I'd refuse to do it.

Good decision if you ask me

@PurpleDaisies

This is a bloody joke.

Look at who they think can do the tests...
Volunteers!

I already posted something on another thread but..... How do they get the volunteers DBS checked before January? And how much public liability insurance should each volunteer take out? Because, as a health care issue, this is regarded as a ‘regulated activity’ under safeguarding which definitely requires a DBS check. And as a volunteer in this situation is not providing an ‘educational activity’, it’s unlikely they’ll be covered by the school’s insurance if/when something goes wrong. Sounds great 🙄

I presume it’s a choice to say that if your child was a close contact of a positive case, they can either continue turning up to school to be tested, or they can self isolate at home as before?

I wonder if parents choose for their child to self isolate, then the government would say the school doesn’t have to provide work for them as they should be in school?! They would sell this as helping teacher workload, but teachers would probably set work for motivated kids anyway as they are generally nice people, so it wouldn’t really help workload!

I also wonder what percentage of kids (or parents) who are close contacts would choose the self isolation for 10 days option (I would, for my kids) and what percentage would choose the ‘continue to mix in school’

I also wonder what the parents/kids/staff of those who are still in school as they weren’t deemed close contacts would feel about those close contacts who have now decided they’d stay at school?! Would you want to sit next to them?!

It's using the lateral flow tests which use saliva so you don't have the issues with sticking a cotton bud down a kids throat.

That's the good news. The bad news is that they are pretty ineffective - in non medical people's hands they only detect around 48% of positive cases. However, this will help to detect asymptomatic cases in the school population and help avoid outbreaks (currently 36 staff isolating at DDs secondary school ).

Not sure how I can teach online and train to administer tests at the same time, but hey.
It's a good job we are masters at multi tasking. Hmmm.

It's using the lateral flow tests which use saliva so you don't have the issues with sticking a cotton bud down a kids throat.

Read the guidance linked to above. It’s a swab.

It's using the lateral flow tests which use saliva so you don't have the issues with sticking a cotton bud down a kids throat.

Schools testing handbook says throat and nose.

An extra week at home isn't the end of the world for secondary aged dcs. It's 5 days
Hmmmm,
December: ‘No you cannot disrupt children’s education and move to online learning for the last few days of term or else we’ll take you to court’
January: ‘You have to move to online learning, so as not to disrupt children’s education, whilst we devise a way to make the spread of COVID in schools even quicker and more widespread than before’

@evenmoreforthemoor

It's using the lateral flow tests which use saliva so you don't have the issues with sticking a cotton bud down a kids throat.

That's the good news. The bad news is that they are pretty ineffective - in non medical people's hands they only detect around 48% of positive cases. However, this will help to detect asymptomatic cases in the school population and help avoid outbreaks (currently 36 staff isolating at DDs secondary school ).

Can you point me to the bit of government documentation that says specifically that they're using saliva lateral flow tests and not the mouth and nose swab lateral flow tests?

I understand delaying face to face teaching until 2 weeks after Christmas (well technically December 28th) to reduce the risk of transmission.

This should have been announced weeks ago. As for testing, if schools cannot administer suncream, I cannot see how an invasive swab is suddenly OK.