Tag: mass testing

The Department for Education faces a bill of up to £263,000 after asking staff to work over Christmas to prepare for its ill-fated schools mass testing programme. It was reported in December that the DfE had offered staff a “one-off £1,000 bonus” to help set up the programme over the break. But the mass testing […]

Schools “won’t be sued” if they don’t carry out mass testing slated for January, the schools minister has said. In a conversation with MPs on Friday, the details of which were leaked to Schools Week, Nick Gibb admitted it was “not ideal” that the government had announced the programme so close to the end of […]

Department for Education staff have been offered £1,000 bonuses to work over Christmas on preparations for mass testing in schools, it has emerged. The news of bonuses for civil servants is likely to anger school staff who have been expected by the government to oversee test and trace duties during holidays, including the Christmas break […]

The government has this week announced mass testing in schools from January 4. The announcement – in the last week of term – has caused uproar in the sector, with unions claiming the plans are “inoperable”. Here’s everything you need to know about the plans.   1. Mass testing ‘opportunity’ for all secondary schools… All […]

Unions and professional associations have said they will fully back schools that are “unable” to deliver mass testing from next month, claiming it will be “inoperable for most schools”. In a statement today, the groups said “no school or college should come under pressure if they are unable to implement these plans, or if they […]

A government announcement on the further rollout of mass Coronavirus testing in schools across England is “imminent”, Schools Week has learned. Organisations representing school staff have raised logistics concerns after it emerged that the government is preparing to announce a scaling up of its testing of staff, pupils and families in the new year. It […]