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?!!!

@tiredmum2468

I went to get a kit they gave me one kit with 7 tests in it

We are a family of 4

I qued up for over an hour at the drive thru testing company they said "come back next week for another one" I told them there were 4 of us and assumed there would be 8 in there only opened it after

Secondary's are giving them out at school but infant/primary/ juniors have to join a que probably for some people with little ones In the car kicking off

I'll be honest it's not exactly a good option is it?

Only adults are meant to test, twice a week. So unless you mean it's a family of 4 adults (in which case, why are you on a primary school thread), that's only a bit short of 2 weeks, during which time queues will have eased, or you can order more online

Whilst there may be some marginal benefit from testing us, it would be far better to test our 11 year old daughter regularly.

I can't see given that we're willing to, why I'm being told I can't. We'd stop far more spread by testing her (which she is willing and able to do) especially given, unlike in secondary, they have no masks at all in their school.

@palacegirl77

Can we please just try and be nicer. To be called selfish for having very valid reasons not to test is just awful. Not everyone that doesnt want the test is antimask, antivax or a conspiracy theorist. But (generally) concerned parents researching the information and making an informed decision based on their families own circumstances and the needs of their child. Looking after your child (and their mental health specifically) is not selfish. You also don't know the full circumstances (i.e. my 12 year old wont be having the tests IN SCHOOL but we have them at home through work and will test ourselves). Its not a one size fits all.

This

@Sevensilverrings

Does anyone know if teachers in primary are tested? We have a small village school, and so far no cases amongst the children, but two staff members have had COVID. The staff group are much more spread out, commuting from the nearest city etc, so I guess more likely to catch it. I just wondered if they’re tested regularly or not?

The majority of teachers in primary schools are testing twice a week. I have done more than a dozen so far. I would be very grateful if those in my community who are able to do so did the same.

@IloveJKRowling

But by the time we'd test positive it would be too late for spread in school from our DC, the most contagious phase would have passed.

Incubation period.

It would be far, far, far too late.

Why would it be "far, far, far" too late? Lateral flow tests pick up pre-symptomatic cases. You could have caught it from one child, perhaps, and not yet passed it to the other. Or you may test positive when your first child is asymptomatic but still contagious. Or perhaps you could pick it up in some rogue interaction (how do your children get to school, for example?).

Does it really matter if it picks up nothing? It is a very small thing that you are being asked to do to keep us all safer. Why not support it?

@IloveJKRowling

If I was going out to work I'd do it, but DH and I both WFH. The ONLY interaction we have with other people is outside socially distanced. We get online supermarket deliveries (and wear masks while unloading). The only place we can realistically get it is from our two primary aged kids who are in classes with no social distancing and no masks.

I did get some tests with the idea of testing older DD who is in a very small very crowded classroom with 30 others and is not allowed to wear a mask (year 6) but the info I got specifically states "Primary school aged children must not be tested" - so if DH or I test positive that means one of our children has had it asymptomatically and presumably been spreading it in school as well as to us.

Given this, it seems rather pointless to test. If I could test DD then I would as that could have some impact on onward transmission. I'm a bit worried if I test her (she's happy to be tested) I'll be in trouble since it says we shouldn't though.

It would be quite useful to know if she has it for us too so that DH could try and isolate from the rest of us, as we have no back up childcare at all and are stuffed if we both get ill.

But it explicitly says not to do the common sense thing.... I don't know why I'm surprised.

Where did the info that "primary age children must not be tested" come from? My test kits have clear instructions in them for how to test young children though it does say they should not self-administer.

@noblegiraffe I know you are a teacher, could you clarify that the tests are for parents of primary age children, not the children? My children's school made it sound like parents should be testing the children, not themselves. I'm confused again not for the first time, the Government is not particularly clear about anything.

I am not NobleGiraffe but I am a teacher. My understanding is that the regular testing is for primary parents. There may, of course, be times when a one-off test is appropriate for the child but not the twice-weekly ones.

This government article may help:
www.gov.uk/government/news/all-households-with-children-of-school-aged-to-get-rapid-covid-19-tests-per-person-per-week

It's not compulsory.

Thanks @DoubleDeckerSwimmer, I was going to get tests for the kids, I'll get them for us instead.

Is this just in England? I’ve not heard anything here in Wales.

The tests can be ordered online. Go to the gov testing site. Just type Gov book test and go to the lateral flow site. They can be posted to you.

The first test takes you about 5 mins while you read the instructions. After that it’s about 2 mins. You do it twice a week and report the result which might take 2 mins after you’ve set it up.

Honestly, it’s so easy to order them. It’s so easy to do it and it’s so easy to report it.

It is for parents of any children in schools.

Secondary kids get tested but primary don’t. Staff at both types of school do 2 tests per week.

If you haven’t got yours yet, order them now. It’s free and if you order online for delivery you do t need to go anywhere or do anything and just wait for them to arrive in 48 hours.

If you didn’t know, well now you do. If you’ve got it from a primary child, it will show up even though they’re not testing, so almost more important for those families I’d have thought. So easy.

Still get them if you work from home. Your kids are interacting with multiple people. Some of their families go to work or to the supermarket or to other places. Across a week there are hundreds of cross-contacts who then are in contact with your kids. Kids can be excellent spreaders, even if they don’t get big consequences and illness themselves.

It’s not compulsory, but why not? It might throw up that you have it, plus vitally, the data helps track what’s happening around the country.

When it’s such a small effort, honestly why not if it helps the bigger picture fight against virus?