Wolverhampton school's testing regime is putting minds at rest
A Wolverhampton school has had a successful full day of Covid-19 testing for staff and students.
Moreton School is open to between 35 to 55 vulnerable children and children of key workers throughout lockdown.
There are also around 20 staff members coming in each day, working in a variety of roles including teaching and testing.
Last week the school introduced lateral flow tests to ensure no one coming into school is carrying Covid-19.
Headteacher Nicola Bayliss said: "I has been a challenge, we have worked over Christmas in anticipation of testing students and staff when we thought we were all coming back into school, it has been a real team effort to get it all up and running.
"There is a bigger uptake of this service during this lockdown that the previous one, I think parents feel reassured that their children will be safe in school, whereas before they were more cautious.
"Having the lateral flow tests has helped with increasing confidence in sending their children into school.
"Children have one test followed by a follow-up test three to five days later, they are only retested if they are a close contact of a positive case and staff are tested weekly.
"People are concerned about the rising cases in the city, but that has made them more keen for us to take up testing."
Teachers have been working tirelessly to prepare live lessons for children at home.
The school has also given out hundreds of laptops and 4G dongles to ensure that they have sufficient access to the internet at home.
Nicola added: "I'm really keen to get the students back into school as soon as possible.
"It has been a really difficult 12 months for youngsters across the world, and particularly in Wolverhampton.
"The have not just missed so much learning, but also they have had four periods of self-isolation in the autumn term. With the lateral flow tests, these periods now will not be necessary as long as the students agree to seven days continuous testing.
"Our staff have really gone above and beyond since the last lockdown not just with teaching, but preparing food parcels for children who are entitled to free school meals, even over Christmas and it would be lovely for them to get the recognition they deserve."
