Our mass covid testing programme across the Denbigh Alliance Trust is up and running ready for a safe return to school from Monday 8th March. The testing stations are in place in schools and our teams of volunteers are trained and ready to assist the students and process the results.
The Trust’s schools have been testing the children of key workers and vulnerable students who have been in school throughout lockdown and this experience has allowed them to scale up the operation to cope with testing whole student bodies. The students must record a negative test to be able to come into school the day after and will then be tested in-school twice more over the next two weeks. After this, students will be given kits to test themselves at home twice a week.
Watling Academy has completed the first round of testing to allow its students to return on 8th March. With larger student numbers at Denbigh the testing and return to school is staggered over the week with over 500 students being tested each day. By Thursday of this week all Denbigh students will be back in school.
Andy Squires, CEO of the Denbigh Alliance Trust said: ‘This has been a massive logistical exercise for the Trust and its schools and we are so grateful for everyone who has volunteered to help us. Our volunteer teams include Trust Staff, Milton Keynes Council staff, Parents, former students, and Parent Association Members and none of this would have been possible without them. The Schools in the Trust have collaborated and shared their experiences to ensure that the testing process goes as smoothly as possible and that students and parents across the Trust have confidence in the return to school.’