Staggered school openings...? Mass testing in school w/c 4 Jan???

[Incredulous2020]

Is this for real?

'Armed forces personnel' turning up at every secondary school in the country w/c 4 January 2021 to assist with mass testing for COVID-19...negative test results required for your DC to return to class w/c 11 January. Unless they're in an exam year group, that is.

(What sounds like a good idea in theory...sounds ludicrous announced after many state schools have closed!!! Why did they wait so long to spring this on everyone? How could this even be implemented in two weeks' time with major holidays in between? Does this mean all instruction will be online until the logistics are sorted?)

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-55348886

Prob came up with it in a coke fueled fever dream last night.

At least, that's what it sounds like. Ludicrous.

It actually sounds really unsafe to have untrained staff (and external 'volunteers') carrying out covid testing on secondary pupils...unsafe on multiple levels. And definitely not something teachers and staff can carry out in addition to their existing responsibilities.

I think anyone with secondary pupils can look forward to a whole term of mostly online learning... (The return of in-person schooling in most of the UK was nice while it lasted...)

Because the DfE are useless fuckwits. This is fairly standard for them.

@Incredulous2020 it doesn’t actually specify that a negative test is required to return to school, just that positive tests will require isolation so in theory parents could refuse consent to test and child returns anyway.

It doesn’t say the tests are going to be administered by the army or that you will have to have a negative test to return to school though?

It is shit.

The government have panicked because they know it spreads in schools but they are’t prepared to invest in making school safer. And they stupidly promised never to close schools again (despite them being a breeding ground for COVID).

Wankers.

So stupid to announce after children have gone home (at government suggestion) how can schools lend out the tech to disadvantaged kids who don't have it for online school? Even a few days notice would have made a huge difference with that.

It actually sounds really unsafe to have untrained staff (and external 'volunteers') carrying out covid testing on secondary pupils...unsafe on multiple levels.

Quite. Aside from anything else, putting aside any health issues with using untrained staff, as if they'll be able to get volunteers DBSd in 2 weeks. Or are they suggesting we let anyone off the street perform medical tests on our teenagers with no checks?

Not that it is that difficult to do, my teenage daughter managed to do both the throat swab for PCR and the lat flow test with just reading the instructions.

Although to do the throat swab properly on your self is difficult whether you are a trained health professional or not.

@RadoxBubbles You're right. Have read more and apparently parental consent is required for testing anyway. A lot of parents probably won't consent to testing until it's absolutely necessary (child comes into contact with confirmed positive case).

In order to run 100 tests a day, schools would need to assign nine staff and supposedly any 'reasonable' costs associated with hiring for that will be reimbursed...?! They would also need to find space.

It's too bad that lateral flow test tends to miss a lot of positive Covid-19 cases.

schoolsweek.co.uk/7-staff-roles-2-hour-training-and-dhsc-sign-off-on-press-schools-given-mass-testing-instructions/

Just a couple more days notice, and schools could have sent students home with printed work for one week , so that those families sharing IT etc wouldn’t have been so disadvantaged. DfE are making up deadlines to suit themselves and have no ducking interest in thinking about what deadlines the schools need to support students.

The lack of planning is terrifying!

The lateral flow tests only identify 50% of people who are covid19+.

Using lateral flow tests for mass testing in schools is pointless. It can only be a token gesture at best.

Look at todays (Tuesday 29/12) headlines. Infections are through the roof. Hospitals close to being overrun. And this is without the inevitable tsunami of infections due to Christmas mixing. Opening secondary schools would be madness.

I am all for pupils getting back to school. Any idiot can see that fully opening schools right now is madness.

Using the army for doing the testing is a legal minefield. If a pupil refuses to have a squaddie shove a swab up their nose, what happens? How can parental consent be obtained?

The army aren't coming in to schools. They will be available via video link/on the phone.
To be honest I would like schools to have the support of Army logistics if this is going to happen.
I'm not expecting to know what is going on until the 3/1 at the earliest though.

I believe the army are only offering telephone / online support. Even that is a ridiculously small number of people when you think of how many students and staff members there are.

Spend money? No.
Practical support? Noooo.
Fucking pointless webinar? Ooh, yes! Let's do that.

The DfE is not fit for purpose. Absolutely useless. All of this could have been avoided if they'd listened to schools and actually spent some money. I suppose it's harder to funnel money to your mates in the education sector though.

Allowing children and staff who are close contacts of positive covid cases to still come to school-on the bus/train- and then wait around together whilst they self administer lateral flow tests with a 50% change of picking up a positive, is frankly dangerous. Sending them all back into class at 9.30 if they have tested negative only to repeat the whole farce again the next day will leave schools like covid Petri dishes; it would probably be as accurate to flip a coin

They should be self-isolating for 10 days at home, like would happen anywhere else in the country.

I hope the government are held to account for this policy afterwards-I think it will be disastrous.

I think so too Letseatgrandma. The now minimal isolation of only immediate contacts is why it was ripping through my children's school before Christmas. The tests are not accurate enough to be used for this purpose. It's an awful idea.

So why are the opposition not screaming about this nonsense? Why is Keir not going on live tv to decry this absolute shambles?

@RoyBatty

So why are the opposition not screaming about this nonsense? Why is Keir not going on live tv to decry this absolute shambles?

I completely agree-Keir Starmer has been as bad as the conservatives on this one.

Because Keir Starmer said he wanted schools back, no ifs or buts so he can't now complain about rampant covid.

Another day, another record breaking number of infections.

Remember that the infections due to Christmas mixing have not hit yet. The worst is yet to come.

Madness to even consider opening schools. Madness.