A school leaders’ union has said rapid Covid testing of secondary school staff and students should be done at home.

The Association of School and College Leaders has warned that schools currently face a confusing system where primary school staff are taking rapid Covid tests from home but staff in secondaries are doing this from school.

It has now called for a consistent approach where all school staff can take rapid Covid tests at home.

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The ASCL’s director of policy, Julie McCulloch, told Tes that the Department for Education is considering whether mass screening testing of secondary school students could be done from home.

She said the ASCL understands that the government wants to be able do this, and the union supports it.

But she added that this could create a situation where the testing stations that have been set up in secondaries are not needed.

Coronavirus: Plans for rapid tests in schools ‘confused’

Her comment follows reports that secondary school students may have to test themselves for Covid at home prior to their return to the classroom, under plans being considered by ministers.

Ms McCulloch said: “The arrangements for rapid turnaround coronavirus tests in schools are still rather confused.

“Currently, staff in primary schools can test themselves at home, but staff in secondary schools have to be tested in school.  

“Our view is that there needs to be a consistent approach, and that all staff should be able to test at home.

“This would relieve the pressure on schools to facilitate these tests, and probably be quicker and easier for staff. 

“We are continuing to discuss this with the government, and our impression is that they would like to be able to move towards this approach if possible.”

She added: “We understand that the plans to mass test secondary-age pupils as they return to school are also under consideration, and that this includes discussion of whether pupils might also be able to self-test at home rather than schools being asked to undertake a huge logistical testing exercise.

“We have been telling the government for some time that the practical issues are forbidding, both in terms of setting up testing centres and in the time it would take to process pupils, with the additional disruption this would cause. It would clearly be a much simpler approach if they are able to self-test.

“It is possible that we could end up in a position where testing centres are not required in schools after all. This would be an enormous relief to schools because it would remove a very significant logistical challenge when they need to be able to concentrate on education, but it is obviously frustrating that this was not all better planned in the first place.

“Our view remains that these rapid turnaround tests could be helpful when used to screen staff and pupils because they will potentially pick up asymptomatic cases which would not otherwise have been detected.

“However, it is important that the government is clear in its communication that these tests are not definitive, and that people need to continue to observe the normal safety advice even if they have tested negative.”

There has been controversy over part of the government’s plans to use rapid lateral flow Covid tests to keep people who have been in close contact with the virus in school if they test negative.

There have been concerns raised by some scientists, public health directors and school leaders that this could lead to people with Covid staying in school because of false-negative test results.

The DfE announced last month that this element of school testing had been “paused” on the recommendation of Public Health England, because of the higher rates of transmission of the virus caused by a new variant.

The DfE expects secondary schools to do twice weekly tests of its staff and screening tests of students returning to school, while primary school staff are being asked to test themselves twice a week from home.

The department is also said to be working on plans to allow primary school pupils to be tested from home.