This is news to me! Households with children in primary and secondary are expected to perform two lateral flow tests at home each week ...

[justanotherneighinparadise]

is this common knowledge? I honestly had no idea. I knew secondary schools were going to do on site testing and that’s all I had heard.

My child’s primary mentioned yesterday to one of the parents that the expectation is that all the parents should be testing weekly and now we have literature from the local council saying the same. How has this completely passed me by?!!!

@Dbwoshem

No, not heard about it regarding primary schools, and our school has not said anything to parents at all. I think it's a very good idea but it hasn't been set up well. Why don't the school have all the tests and give each child some to bring home with them each week?

Storage and logistics I would imagine.

it's not 'expected' but we can access the tests if we want to. I have an 'out and about' job so I am. DH (who works at home and doesn't go anywhere except for walks etc) is not.
School have not said anything about it.
There have been several threads about this on here the last week or so.

[quote Lubiluxe]@palacegirl77 the irony of your post is hilarious. We've all made sacrifices. I haven't met my brand new niece yet, who is no longer brand new, but I do it to help keep everyone safe. Yes you've had to homeschool, like many others have had to and I wish the schools didn't shut. As a keyworker you could have sent your child to school. But this is beside the point.
I still think it is incredibly selfish not to test as I think it will pick out some asymptomatic cases thus keeping others safe. But carry on not testing, this will only prolong things even further.[/quote]
The irony of your post is hilarious too! complaining about me saying id made sacrifices by telling me youd made sacrifices! I know I "could have" sent my children to school, I chose not to to help keep numbers down. Weve done our bit and more. If it was so essential it should be made compulsory. And ALL workplaces should be doing it compulsory too - supermarkets, when you go for a haircut the lot. If you have some evidence to show me that those LFT are completely accurate I might be more interested. But quit it with the insults, people are fed up enough.

Also heard nothing from DC school, but am aware of it from media and here.

FWIW many of DC's friends who have parents in healthcare professions have opted out of school testing and are doing at-home testing, which in their opinion is the safest option (although is less visible).

They take about 2 minutes to do then 30 for the results. So easy - there is no need to worry about it. Y7s have been doing it easily.

It’s “encouraged” but not “expected” in our local authority.

Meh. I’m usually an “all for the common good” sort but I think the LF tests are mostly rubbish and also it’s another overwhelming to do task on top of all the others so I can’t say I’m rushing to participate.

Testing is not mandatory fir staff, students or families. I’m a teacher and I’m not testing.

Is refusing to do the lateral flow tests if you have no symptoms, and the subsequent comments from MN, the new not wearing a mask? "I can do them fine and I have X", "it is not about you it is to protect the vulnerable"

Was mentioned in the news a couple of weeks ago. I don't have school aged children and I knew about it.

Some saying no harm. Do bare in mind that if you get a positive lateral flow test and then a negative pcr test the whole household still has to isolate for 10 days....

That’s not true Lottle. If the LFT is taken at home it needs a confirmatory PCR.

@noblegiraffe I hope you are right. I read this Guardian article www.theguardian.com/education/2021/mar/06/school-covid-tests-pupils-in-england-very-likely-to-get-false-positives and then asked the woman at our school's testing centre who seemed to think you isolated no matter what with a positive lateral flow. I hope it isn't the case

Heard it on R4 and thread on here. School also sent an email round.

I think every little helps, if it's not too inconvenient (like 40 mile round trips!), and it helps keeps schools open, surely worth a shot.

You are only encouraged to do it twice a week - how many of there are you?

Seven tests is two tests a week for just three people, most households with children are larger than that. They should ask how many are in the household and send an appropriate amount based on that. Seven seems a bizarre and small number to have in a pack, why not 8 or 10 or 12? But mainly I'm shocked that a large town that has been doing community testing for months does not yet have LFT distribution.

Yes Lottle, if you test positive on an LFT taken at school you can’t override it with a negative PCR (which is madness), but for the home testing that this thread is about, if you test positive you have to take a PCR to confirm it (so would be overridden by a negative).

We got a letter from school explaining

2 more tests at school then home tests come home with the students (secondary)

I knew this. I picked up a couple of boxes of tests at the weekend.
I'm WFH so I'm not sure when I should do my tests.

@noblegiraffe oh that would be good. I'll ask our testing person at school

@noblegiraffe

Yes Lottle, if you test positive on an LFT taken at school you can’t override it with a negative PCR (which is madness), but for the home testing that this thread is about, if you test positive you have to take a PCR to confirm it (so would be overridden by a negative).

Why is that? Are they different tests or something?

I think there's some cross-purposes on this thread.

I had assumed the OP meant LFTs FOR PARENTS, which I understand are available (though not necessarily well publicised).

But I think some other people assumed OP was referring to LFTs to be done twice a week at home FOR SECONDARY PUPILS after the first 3 tests in school.

I know that my secondary school child is going to be doing it. Not the household.

I’ve heard nothing official from my daughter’s school, but have spoken to the SENCo regarding DH and I testing regularly as we’re not sure how successful testing DD will be due to a disability - she didn’t do the school testing, but will, 🤞 do the home testing

We don’t even have a centre here to pick up the tests so school are looking into whether they can supply us with the tests. They’ll send DD’s home with her as planned.

Not compulsory and we aren't doing it

@Springersrock

I’ve heard nothing official from my daughter’s school, but have spoken to the SENCo regarding DH and I testing regularly as we’re not sure how successful testing DD will be due to a disability - she didn’t do the school testing, but will, 🤞 do the home testing

We don’t even have a centre here to pick up the tests so school are looking into whether they can supply us with the tests. They’ll send DD’s home with her as planned.

You can just order them on the gov website. They will arrive next day. www.gov.uk/guidance/rapid-lateral-flow-testing-for-households-and-bubbles-of-school-pupils-and-staff

@Mumdiva99 you can order a further pack a day later.