Parents warned over delayed start to new school year in England

Head teachers are continuing to push for teens to be tested for coronavirus as the summer break comes to an end, which could been a staggered return to school for pupils to be tested.

Teaching unions have told parents and teachers that it will not be a return to “business as usual”.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of ASCL, the senior leader union, told The Sunday Times: “If you have nine million children going back to school, having been mixing through the summer, you can see the need to test them on site.

“Logistically it will not be challenging.

"We thought we could focus on the norm of education and already we have the spectre of disruption.”

Mums and dads "may rightly feel frustrated," he added.

Classrooms to be moved outside?

It comes as schools have been told to consider moving classrooms outside when they return in September if five pupils test positive for Covid-19.

This will be the third year impacted by the ongoing global health crisis after disruption to the 2019/20 and 2020/21 years which saw traditional exams scrapped.

The suggestion, which appears in a Department for Education document, has been branded “total fudge” by a union which is calling for “an urgent plan, backed up by cast-iron investment” to install ventilation equipment in school buildings as soon as possible.

The document refers to thresholds which can be used by education and childcare settings as an indication for when to seek public health advice if they are concerned.

One of the thresholds is when five children, pupils, students or staff, who are likely to have mixed closely, test positive for Covid-19 within a 10-day period.

The other is when 10% of children, pupils, students or staff who are likely to have mixed closely test positive within 10 days.

The document says: “At the point of reaching a threshold, education and childcare settings should review and reinforce the testing, hygiene and ventilation measures they already have in place.”