A Shirebrook principal says that the “significant logistical challenge” of how to test all of its students for COVID-19 will need to be overcome before they are able to set foot back into the classroom.
Mark Cottingham, principal of Shirebrook Academy, says that there is still plenty of work to do before he is able to give parents firm dates about when their children can come back into school for face-to-face learning.
On Monday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that students will be able to return to school in the week beginning March 8 in the first step of the country’s road map out of the current lockdown.
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Getting all students back into school in the week commencing March 8 is a “significant logistical challenge” because of the need to test them for COVID-19, says Shirebrook Academy principal Mark Cottingham.
However, although he welcomed the news, Mr Cottingham warned that the devil of the return to school plan is in the detail, thanks to the Government’s insistence that schools must carry out asymptomatic testing on students before they are allowed back behind their desks.
The guidance states that all secondary students will take three COVID-19 tests as they return to school, with schools being given discretion as to how they can ensure that students can return to the classroom during that week.
Once the initial programme of three tests in school is completed, students will be provided with two rapid tests to use each week at home.
So far so good, but although Shirebrook Academy has been regularly testing the 100 or so students who have been attending school because they are a special case or are the children of key workers, Mr Cottingham warned that the biggest challenge will be to ramp up testing to cater for the remaining 750 or so students.
In particular, it will need to co-ordinate a staggered return to school to ensure that students are tested efficiently and swiftly without them missing lesson time or mingling with other students and maintain the programme for two weeks.
It will also need to test staff as well, whilst requiring them to continue to offer a remote teaching programme and maintain the provision for the students who have attended school throughout the lockdown.
Mr Cottingham said: “Whilst we share the country’s happiness that students are being allowed to come back to school, we are a long way from understanding how we can carry out the testing that is required of us while getting the school back up and running to its maximum capacity once again.
“We have been testing students on a regular basis at our separate Pine Cone learning facility and we can carry out 40 tests an hour. When you’re talking about 100 students that’s manageable, but we have 170 students in our Year 11 group alone, so you’re talking about a four-hour testing window.
“These are significant logistical challenges which we will have to overcome to ensure that this testing – which we also must stress is voluntary – can be carried out with maximum efficiency and safety and minimum fuss.”
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Mark Cottingham, principal of Shirebrook Academy, says the school will have to ramp up its student testing operation eight-fold before it can welcome back its students for face-to-face teaching.
Mr Cottingham praised staff, students and parents for their cooperation and resilience during the current lockdown, adding that everyone has worked together to ensure that the remote learning has delivered the best possible educational experience.
He added: “While I’m not saying that I want students to remain studying at home, I am concerned about the level of disruption that might occur during the return to school at a time when the online learning we are providing is the best that it has ever been.
“I’m confident that we will get there, we have got there in the past and hopefully there is a lot more guidance to come out, but I would advise any parent who is expecting to send their children back to school on March 8 to be mindful that it might not be possible for everybody to return on the same day.”
