Secondary schools have been asked to run on-site Covid tests in January when students return after the Christmas holidays.

In an email to schools sent this afternoon, the Department for Education acknowledges this is a “significant ask” and gives them less than three full working days to order the lateral flow testing kits they will need.

The government has said testing all students in secondary schools in January will help to reduce Covid transmission “after a period of social mixing” over the school holidays.

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Headteachers have said it is unreasonable to place such a considerable public health task on schools with minimal support.

The Association of School and College Leaders accused the government of forgetting that “school leaders are educators rather than an ad hoc branch of the NHS”.

Secondary schools asked to run Covid tests in the new year

Ofsted will not be carrying out any inspections of schools during the first week of schools’ return in January unless it has significant concerns, schools have been told.

A DfE email to schools says: “We would like all secondary schools to prepare to test their pupils once on-site on return in January. We understand that this is a significant additional ask but testing continues to play a vital role in keeping Covid-19 out of schools.

“Testing all pupils in school boosts testing participation and will help reduce transmission after a period of social mixing over the school holidays. Tests, PPE and funding to support your workforce will be provided as before. After this test on return, pupils should continue to test in line with government guidelines.”

To enable testing on return in January, schools have been told they will need to order sufficient testing kits by Tuesday of next week.

The email also asks schools to order home-testing kits.

It adds: “Please check your test kit stock levels and make an order of test kits so that both staff and students are able to test over the holiday period if required, and for the first week of January, using home-test kits.”

Julie McCulloch, director of policy at the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “We recognise the importance of Covid testing to reduce the risk of transmission of the virus, but it is not reasonable for the government to once again impose this considerable public health task on schools with minimal support.

 “The role of schools should be limited to providing a space for test centres and communicating with students. But the government expects them also to handle the logistics of staffing and setting up testing stations. It seems to have forgotten that school leaders are educators rather than an ad hoc branch of the NHS.

“Their focus is on providing the teaching and learning required by their students, which is particularly important in the context of the disruption caused by the pandemic. The last thing they need is another huge responsibility which does not even fall within the remit of education.

 “It is hardly the greatest timing either that this has been communicated in an email late on a Friday afternoon, and that they have been told that they will need to order sufficient test kits for this task by Tuesday, which seems an incredibly short time frame.”

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “As part of our commitment to protecting face-to-face education, we are asking all secondary school pupils to complete one on-site test as they return to school after the Christmas break, reflecting that mixing between households is likely to increase over Christmas.

“Protective measures in place continue to strike a balance between managing transmission risk with testing, hygiene, ventilation and vaccines, and we encourage any eligible young people who haven’t yet had the vaccine to consider using the Christmas break to do so.”

There was major controversy in December last year when the government announced late in the term that secondary schools would be expected to carry out on-site Covid testing in January 2021.  

However, this was then overtaken by a new national lockdown, which was announced by the prime minister after the first day of the new term.