Headteachers are stressed, sleepless and “at the end of their tether” over the testing fiasco, the Chartered College of Teaching has warned.

The college’s chief executive, Dame Alison Peacock, has raised the concerns in a letter, seen by Tes, to Lord Bethell, minister of innovation at the Department of Health and Social Care.

The warning comes after Dame Alison raised the issue of the high levels of staff anxiety and exhaustion with Department for Education officials last week.

She told Tes: “Our headteachers really need looking after. They are at the end of their tether in many cases.”

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In the letter to Lord Bethell, she calls for greater coordination of testing supply to ensure the current gridlock does not lead to school closures and interruptions to teaching.

Schools are being placed in an “impossible position”, she warns.

She writes: “As chief executive of the Chartered College of Teaching, I am in frequent contact with tens of thousands of teachers and school leaders across England.

“The issues that I am hearing about are not aimed at point-scoring nor are they motivated by political bias.

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“The reality in our schools at this moment is that our teachers and school leaders are being placed in an impossible situation.”

The letter provides some examples of how the testing fiasco is affecting schools and teachers on the ground.

She writes: “Absence of staff and children due to suspected Covid symptoms is being exacerbated due to a lack of available testing for the virus.

“Many teachers are spending hours on the phone seeking a testing appointment only to be turned away to call again the next day.”

One newly appointed head was left alone running the school because all the other senior colleagues were ill or forced to self-isolate waiting for a test, the letter states. Another school leader was denied a test because they were not deemed to be a key worker.

Dame Alison writes: “Apart from the obvious difficulty of teachers being required to self-isolate away from school, all this costs the school money.

“All at a time when teachers and leaders are also battling their own stresses and, in some cases, suffering lack of sleep and broken nights as they try to solve intractable problems.” 

Organising cover for isolating staff was a particular headache for schools at the moment, Dame Alison told Tes. 

She said: “Now that we have many more teachers back in school they are much more likely to be at risk or to exhibit symptoms of Covid and therefore be off sick, and you also have the added anxiety of not knowing whether that’s the common cold [or Covid]. People are worried - of course they are worried. So people immediately think, ‘I ought to get tested,’ but the process of getting tested is challenging, as we know.”

A government spokesperson said: “Testing capacity is the highest it has ever been, but we are seeing a significant demand for tests. It is vital that children and school staff only get a test if they develop coronavirus symptoms.

“If a positive case is confirmed in a school, swift action is being taken to ask those who have been in close contact to self-isolate, and Public Health England’s local health protection teams continue to support and advise schools in this situation.

“Children who are self-isolating will receive remote education. We will continue to work with schools to ensure all appropriate steps are taken to keep pupils and staff safe.”