Most secondary school pupils in England have been told to work from home for the first week of next term, in an extension of the government’s controversial plan requiring state schools to carry out mass Covid testing.
Headteachers and union leaders say the screening programme will tie up staff in administering the tests, straining school resources ahead of crucial mock exams at a time when many teachers and students are still being affected by the virus.
The government’s plan is likely to set off a further confrontation between school leaders and the Department for Education, with schools and unions wanting to see details of support and insurance before they can endorse it. So far the DfE is only offering logistical planning by the armed forces and to reimburse “reasonable workforce costs”.
But Anne Longfield, the children’s commissioner for England, backed the plan, which would allow only pupils taking exams such as GCSEs and A-levels to return on 4 or 5 January, with other year groups given remote learning until 11 January.
“A staggered return for some secondary pupils in January appears a sensible way to minimise disruptions throughout the term. It’s vital though that additional testing capacity works to enable children to stay in the classroom,” Longfield said.
Children of key workers and vulnerable children would also be able to attend school. The start dates for primary schools, and special needs and alternative provision schools, would not be affected.
The government’s decision to keep nearly 3 million pupils at home comes days after the DfE threatened schools and local authorities with legal action if they opted for remote learning in the last week of the current term. Greenwich and Islington councils in London were among those forced to back down after pressure from the DfE and Gavin Williamson, the education secretary.
Richard Watts, the leader of Islington council, said: “The government’s inconsistent approach to this issue has wasted precious time, and caused more confusion and distress among hard-pressed teachers, pupils and parents.
“At a time of public health crisis, it’s disappointing the government took action to stop councils taking steps to protect public health, only to then adopt similar steps itself.”
But Williamson said it was a “national priority” for schools to remain open as much as possible. “This targeted testing round will clamp down on the virus as students return from the Christmas break and help stop the spread of Covid-19 in the wider community,” Williamson said.
School leaders were indignant at the abruptness of the government’s announcement, a day before schools and colleges in England close for the Christmas holidays, after an exhausting term marked by high levels of absences and strenuous efforts to help pupils catch up with earlier lost learning.
“The government could not have created more of a shambolic situation. They have handed schools a confused and chaotic mess at the 11th hour,” said Paul Whiteman, the general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers.
“By dropping this on schools minutes before the end of term, leaders are left with no time to implement the government’s instructions. Schools, pupils and parents are now left with no clear idea of what is expected of them, or what to expect next term.”
Kate Green, the shadow education secretary, said: “After teachers and school leaders have been working so hard this term it is a kick in the teeth to expect this to be done over Christmas.
“The government must urgently engage with school leaders to put in place proper support for schools to deliver mass testing. It has had no plan to support schools and colleges through the pandemic, and that cannot continue.”
The DfE suggested the delay for pupils returning would allow secondary schools and colleges to implement mass screening from the first week of January, using low-cost lateral flow tests (LFTs) that detect active Covid-19 infections and don’t require laboratory processing.
While LFTs can give results in under an hour, they have been criticised for being less accurate. But Dr Shamez Ladhani, a consultant paediatrician at Public Health England, said: “Every modelling study suggests that if you can test people regularly with a fast test then you will get a lot more benefit from that than having a very precise one that you can only use infrequently.
“In a school setting, if you can identify cases before they spread beyond a bubble then you will increase attendance rates significantly.”
The government said that schools and colleges would be able to offer their pupils two rapid tests three days apart, with positive results confirmed by a more reliable lab-based PCR test. Students attending face-to-face education in the first week of term will be offered the first testing dates.
School and college leaders remained sceptical that schools would be able to find the resources to administer the tests to potentially hundreds of pupils on a daily basis at such short notice.
David Hughes, the chief executive of the Association of Colleges, said: “Government needs to be clear about a long list of issues raised by the entire education sector, before colleges can plan it – including the funding, logistics, training, safeguarding and issues of consent.
“Based on the government advice, we estimate that colleges will need to have more than 5,000 people working full-time on testing to deliver the promises made to the public about students and staff.”
Jules White, the head of Tanbridge House state secondary school in Horsham, West Sussex, said schools were being asked to plan for testing over Christmas without funding and little notice.
“There is significant disquiet amongst heads who want to do the right thing and see children and staff in school as much as possible. But testing needs to be carried out by trained professionals who know what they are doing and have the capacity to deliver it,” White said.
“It would be considered ridiculous to ask nurses or accountants to teach GCSEs and A-levels as a bit part of their daily work.”