We started out keeping our tests close to our chests, just as the government had advised. They were there as a last possible resort. 

There’s a cold going around the school at the moment - as happens at this time of year - so we told people to try and book tests online. But, lo and behold, no one could find one. 

Coronavirus: Why schools are running out of test kits

Test one

Our first test went to a member of the senior leadership team. Her symptoms were: sore throat, cold, high temperature, persistent cough. When she called in sick, she was coughing throughout our conversation.

We’re not giving tests to people with just one symptom: we’re only giving them to people with several Covid-19 symptoms. 

Because this person is SLT, she’s not just in one “bubble group”: she goes on patrol around the school. Plus she has a daughter in Year 11 and her husband works on site. 

She tried for a whole day to book an online test. There was absolutely nothing available at all - not even at the other end of the country. Just the same message, again and again: no tests available. 

We were aware that she’d been in contact with a number of people, so we had to know what her result was. 

She took the test on Friday last week. It was taken by courier, and fully logged, but she hasn’t had her results yet. Still, today - Thursday - we don’t yet have her results. 

She’s phoned up and chased the results. She was on hold for a while, and then got cut off. She hasn’t managed to speak to anyone yet. The worst-case scenario is that we now have Covid going around the school, and we have no idea. 

We’ve replayed her day, just in case her test comes back positive. We’re already aware who she was in contact with. Luckily, those people haven’t come down with symptoms, so we’re very hopeful that it will be a negative result. But we don’t know yet. 

Test two

That member of staff’s husband also came down with symptoms. So another test goes home to him, mostly because we need him back on site. 

He took the test yesterday, and put it on the kitchen counter, waiting for the courier to collect it. Half an hour later, he got an email from the testing centre, saying, “Your results are inconclusive.” He hasn’t even sent his test off yet. It’s still on the kitchen counter. 

It’s scary. You suddenly think: are any of these results valid? Are any of them true? Are these just random emails sent out? You lose confidence at that point. 

Test three

A member of staff, working on the pastoral side, had been in a meeting in a room for quite a long time with the member of SLT who came down with symptoms. Then she came down with exactly the same symptoms.

She tried for two days to get a test online, but there was nothing available at all. We sent her test to her at home last Friday, and had her results back today. The test came back negative. 

We’re relieved about that result - assuming, of course, it’s the right one, and not just some random result that’s been sent to her. 

Test four and five

These went to a member of teaching staff: she teaches music and dance. She’s another member of a husband-and-wife staff team. Her husband has no symptoms, but obviously has to stay at home as well. Two of their three children also have symptoms, though only one of them is at our school.

She tried booking a test online, and managed to get an appointment at a local centre. She wasn’t sure it had gone through properly, though: she felt that she’d been kicked off the website. But she put herself and her two children in the car, and drove to a centre an hour and a half away, despite feeling very ill. 

When she got there, she was told: “Sorry, we have no record of you.” So she had to go away without being tested. 

She went home and booked another test online, for the next day. This was in Cardiff, which was at least a six-hour round trip. Before she went, we gave her two tests as back-up: one for her and one for the daughter, who goes to our school. But we were aware that the results from the test centres tend to be processed much more quickly than home-test results. 

Both sets of tests were taken on Monday, and we’re still waiting for the results. Her daughter is in Year 3, and the two children she sits next to in class have also come down ill. So we need those results. 

Test six

A parent called up saying that their 11-year-old child has symptoms. She was absolutely desperate: she can’t earn any money until her child is able to go back to school. 

We said originally that we would try to keep our test kits for staff, but how do you turn down someone like that? They’ve got to live - they’ve got to pay the bills, pay the rent. She was willing to drive the length of the country to get a test - not that she could afford to - but she just couldn’t get anything. 

Her daughter took the test on Monday, and they’re still waiting for the result. 

Test seven

Our Year 1 teacher called up yesterday with Covid symptoms. She was coughing throughout the conversation, and had a temperature. 

She’s currently trying to teach her class online, because she feels well enough to do that. She’s videoing her phonics lesson, while her teaching assistant runs the classroom. 

We don’t have spare teaching staff left to cover her lesson. Staffing is tight, anyway - budgets are tight - but people are going off ill because they’re being cautious. We have teachers who are concerned because they’re pregnant. And then we had one teacher who sprained her ankle, and was advised by her GP to rest at home: that kind of normal stuff is going on as well. And we’re set up to cover normal absences, not absences of 10 to 14 days. 

The courier picked up her test this morning, so she’s not going to be back in school until midway through next week at the earliest. There could be cases in that Year 1 class, and we’re not doing anything to stop that spreading, because we just don’t have that information. 

Test eight

One of our cleaners came down with a cough and a temperature. He’s elderly, and therefore in the at-risk group. There’s a pattern to the symptoms, so we’re hoping it’s just a bug doing the rounds, but we had to send him home.

Obviously, this has a significant impact, because we’re deep-cleaning every day. And it’s a massive concern because he’s been cleaning in every classroom. So a test went straight home to him. Though he probably won’t get his results until the middle of next week.

Tests nine and 10

We have two tests still left, though I expect those will be gone, too, by next week. 

I could have given away hundreds of them this week. I’m getting phone calls from parents of children, all sick, all isolating. They say: “We’ve seen in the news that you’ve got tests - can we have them?” 

A lot of our parents are living on the breadline, on zero-hours contracts. If they’re not able to work, they don’t get paid. If I send a child home, that’s two weeks’ loss of earnings for the parents. 

People point the finger at schools and say we haven’t done enough - well, what can we do? We’re open, we’re up and running, but children cannot come in if test centres aren’t open. 

The author is the headteacher of a primary school in South West England