School mass testing timing a 'slap in the face', says De La Salle head

The government announced on Thursday that the return of secondary school and college pupils will be staggered in the first week of January.

This comes as schools prepare for the roll-out of mass Covid testing for pupils in the New Year.

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The last-minute announcement has been met with dismay by teaching unions, which have called the plans “simply not realistic”.

De La Salle School headteacher Andrew Rannard said a large part of his Christmas will now consist of planning for the testing operation.

“It’s a bit of a slap in the face, absolutely,” Mr Rannard said.

“All the heads, we’ve all been in touch with each other today as to thinking, how do we plan this?

“We’ve had bits of information more came last night.

“It’s just a drip feed of information, bit by bit, and you can’t run as school like that, particularly because most schools are closed now for two weeks.

“Physically the buildings are closed, staff taking holidays and things like that, so it just makes it really difficult to do.

“We’ll do it, but it’s just really difficult.”

On Thursday, schools minister Nick Gibb told Sky News that teachers will not have to play a role in coronavirus testing in schools.

But this has been dismissed today in a joint statement issued by the NAHT, the Association of School and College Leaders, the National Education Union, the NASUWT, the Association of Colleges, the National Governance Association and The Church of England Education Office.

“Schools and colleges simply do not have the staffing capacity to carry this out themselves,” the statement said.

“As such, most will not be in a position to carry this out in a safe and effective manner.

“The suggestion that schools can safely recruit, train and organise a team of suitable volunteers to staff and run testing stations on their premises by the start of the new term is simply not realistic.

“All our organisations agree that educational staff have once again been put in an impossible position as a result of this latest announcement.”

Mr Rannard also refuted Mr Gibb’s comments, saying that from the information he has seen, the operation will be “100 per cent” on schools.

Nick Gibb, Minister of State at the Department for Education (DfE)

Within the first week, the DfE want schools to test every child, so that’s around 1,200 at De La Salle.

The extra inset day on Monday, January 4, will be used to train the school’s support staff, who will be carrying out tests and other tasks.

Pupils will then be tested between Tuesday and Friday, by appointment, with Year 11s coming back initially and the other year groups learning from home.

Mr Rannard also threw doubts over whether schools will be able to get the volunteers they need.

He said: “The reality is, we’re looking at working out how our staff and how we can do it.

“I’ve had a good meeting today, we’ve put some sketchy plans but we’re just waiting for more detail.”

That detail was expected to come during a webinar with the DFE this afternoon, although Mr Ranald did not expect to get the clarity that’s required.

Mr Rannard said: “We get stuff from the NHS, which is actually quite good, it’s clear.

“Then we get stuff from thee DfE and it’s just quite vague. It’s sort of intentions, or what they hope, or think, or maybe. And you can’t run schools like that.

“We’re lucky that we were open today, lots of schools closed yesterday and some even the day before, some of the Liverpool schools.

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“How people are meant to put things in place. If I ran a school the way the government is currently running this, I’d be sacked.

“If it was the newspapers, if they were running it that way, the editor would be sacked. You can’t do these things.

“Schools deserve better. The people in schools and the staff, the parents, the kids deserve better than they’re getting at the moment.”