A York head teacher has moved to reassure parents that their children can come back to school even if they haven’t taken a Covid test.
With a week to go before schools welcome back all pupils, John Tomsett of Huntington School has spoken of the challenges facing staff.
And in a letter to parents, he assures them that a coronavirus test isn’t required for students to return.
He writes: “You will have heard that schools should offer Lateral Flow Tests (LFTs) for detecting the virus to child(ren) before they enter school and then twice more once they are in school.
“The advice is to wait 3-5 days between tests. Providing these tests in school is logistically difficult.
“I am working with the Local Authority on finding a way of offering access to the tests that does not disrupt our reopening for all children on 8 March 2021.
“It is important to note that all testing is entirely voluntary. If you do not want your child(ren) tested, they can return to school without having had a test.”
Parents who want their child to be tested must book an appointment before arriving at one of the three test centres, at York St John University, the University of York and the LNER Community Stadium.
This can be done via this link from today (1 March).
Mr Tomsett writes: “As well as your child getting tested, we encourage all family members aged 11 years and over to book a test.”
He adds: “If your child has had Covid within the last 90 days they must not have a test as this could result in a false positive result.
“Furthermore, if your child is displaying any COVID symptoms they should not come to school and a PCR test should be booked at the Poppleton Road site.
“This testing process is to identify asymptomatic cases only.
“Asymptomatic testing will support the risk reduction measures already in place in school and in our community and everyone should continue to adhere to ‘hands, face, space’ to protect themselves, our friends and families.”