LGA responds to Government announcement on testing in schools

“While we support the premise of testing before term restarts, it is crucial that all secondary schools are properly supported and able to effectively administer these tests without significant disruption to the children’s learning."

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Responding to Government’s announcement regarding testing in schools, Cllr Judith Blake, Chair of the Local Government Association’s Children and Young People Board, said:

“Keeping schools open for the wellbeing and education of children and young people is hugely important, for those children’s life chances and for working parents, and councils have been working hard with schools throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure they can remain open as safely as possible.

“Testing students on their return to school, alongside existing virus control measures and working with local test and trace teams, can help to keep our schools open.

“However, we have continuing concerns about the operational logistics of testing in secondary schools and the challenges posed by this timetable. Ensuring there is a suitable number of staff and volunteers, identifying the number of stations needed and finding a safe space for students to wait for their results are all significant challenges. It is vital that the tests, PPE and other support being promised by the Government is delivered on time and in the quantities needed.

“While we support the premise of testing before term restarts, it is crucial that all secondary schools are properly supported and able to effectively administer these tests without significant disruption to the children’s learning.

“It is also important that schools are properly linked with local test and trace teams so that cases in schools can be effectively traced in the local community.”