A major multi-academy trust has had to send home 1,200 pupils in the space of just over a week, as “chaos” around Covid testing disrupts schools.
Steve Chalke, the founder of Oasis Community Learning Trust, said that as a result of government policy “two whole year groups are off and 240 kids are missing out on education”.
He warned that the country needs to be testing “all of a school’s staff and children all the time” and said without this there would be chaos.
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His comments come as school leadership unions and governors have written to the prime minister urging him to take control of the situation.
Writing for The Sun, Mr Chalke said: “I had a single mum ring me up in tears telling me how her son had gone down with all the coronavirus symptoms.
“He can’t go back to school for two weeks, so she can’t go to work and that means she doesn’t have any money.
“She rang the Covid-19 NHS test centre numerous times and when she finally got through was told to go online. She spent most of Saturday trying to make the site work. It didn’t.
“Once this mother, who lives in South London, did get a spot in a test centre, it was miles away from her home, and she doesn’t have a car.
“This story is being repeated up and down the country for both staff and pupils - not just in the Oasis Trust’s 52 schools, but in thousands of others.
“Just over six days into the new school year, we have had to send home 1,200 pupils out of 31,500. The reason is either pupils or teachers have symptoms, and can’t return until they get a negative test result.”
He added: “In Waterloo, in London, we have 12 teachers off due to one member of staff displaying symptoms. They can’t get a test.
“As a result, following government policy, two whole year groups are off and 240 kids are missing out on education. It is time to carry out regular testing for Covid-19 on-site at all schools, because we can’t have pupils and staff travelling miles to be swabbed. And those results need to be rapid.
“In other countries, results come back in 24 hours, which is what is necessary. You need to test all of the school’s staff and children all the time. Without that, we have chaos.”
