Showing posts with label testing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label testing. Show all posts

Saturday 29 May 2021

Covid-19: Enhanced testing in Willesden, Donnington Court

From Brent Council 

 

Covid-19: Enhanced testing in Willesden, Donnington Court

Public Health England has found a case of the South African Covid-19 variant in Willesden.

To see if it has spread in the community and to help contain the virus, everyone aged 16 and over who lives or works in Donnington Court NW10 3TJ is being asked to get tested, even if they are not showing symptoms.

If you live or work within the enhanced testing area, do the right thing and get tested to protect your family, friends and community. 

The more cases of the variant we find, the better chance we have at stopping the spread.

You must get tested at one of the following testing sites. The site you go to will depend on whether you have symptoms or not.

If you don’t have symptoms

If you have symptoms

Key questions on enhanced testing

Why am I being asked to get tested?

A case of the South African Covid-19 variant has been found in Willesden. We want to find out if it’s been spreading in the local area and if so, to contain it by asking all those affected and their recent contacts to self-isolate.

It’s important that you get tested, even if you feel fine, as 1 in 3 people with Covid-19 show no symptoms but could be spreading the virus with loved ones and around the community without knowing.

How does it work?

  1. If you’re aged 16 or over, book a test at the right testing site depending on whether you’ve got symptoms or not

  2. Come alone if you can, although if you’re 16 or 17 you’ll need to bring a parent or guardian with you – and don’t forget your face covering!

  3. When at the site, you’ll need to take a swab of your throat and nose – it’s quick and painless

  4. That’s it. Leave the testing site, staff will clean the booth and send your test off to the lab

  5. If your test is positive, it’ll be checked to see what strain of the virus you’ve been infected with. Don’t worry, there’s currently no evidence the South African variant will make you more unwell but you will need to self-isolate for 10 days so you don’t spread it – anyone you live with will need to self-isolate too.

  6. If you test negative, that’s great! But you must continue to follow the rules and remember, you can get free and regular rapid Covid-19 tests any time,visit our webpage to find out more.

Monday 8 March 2021

North Wembley residents encouraged to take part in enhanced testing to control spread of Covid-19 South African variant

Residents and workers in North Wembley are being asked to get tested following the discovery of a case of the South African Covid-19 variant in the area.

Everyone aged 16 and over who live or work in the enhanced testing area below are being asked to take a PCR Covid-19 test, even if they are not showing any symptoms.

This is to see if it has spread in the community and if so, to help contain it by asking all those affected and their recent contacts to self-isolate.


 

Those without symptoms are being asked to get tested at:

  • Brent Civic Centre Testing Site (1st floor), Engineers Way, Wembley Park, HA9 0FJ. Opening hours: 8am-8pm. To book: visit the online booking page.

Those with symptoms are being asked to get tested at either:

  • Northwick Park Testing Site, Northwick Park Sports Pavilion, Capital Ring, HA1 3GX. Opening hours: 8am-12noon. To book: call 020 8937 4440 or book online at www.gov.uk/coronavirus.
  • Wembley Testing Site. Large Car Park, London Road, Wembley, HA9 7EU. Opening hours: 8am-8pm. To book: call 020 8937 4440 or book online at www.gov.uk/coronavirus.

Home testing kits will be delivered to a small number of addresses and letters will be sent to these households letting them know.

Any positive cases will be examined to determine which strain of the virus the person has been infected with. This will help to see how far – if at all – the South African variant has spread in the community and to enable better understanding of this variant.

Those who test positive may be able to claim a £500 payment if they are on a lower income and cannot go to work because they are self-isolating.

Dr Melanie Smith, Director of Public Health at Brent Council, said:

A case of the new South African variant of COVID-19 has been found in North Wembley and cannot be traced back to international travel.

We’re encouraging all those living in the enhanced testing area to get tested so we can see how far – if at all – the virus has spread.

Not only will this enable us to find any more cases of the variant, but it may help us find more cases of Covid-19 in general, particularly from those not showing symptoms, and this will in turn help us reduce the spread of the virus in Brent.

It doesn’t matter whether you have symptoms or not, please do the right thing and get tested to protect your family, friends and community.

Professor Kevin Fenton, Regional Director at Public Health England London, said:

The UK has one of the best genomic systems in the world which has allowed us to detect the variant originating in South Africa here in North Wembley. I urge everyone offered a test to take it up to help us to monitor the virus in our communities and to help suppress and control the spread of this variant.

The most important thing is that people continue to follow the guidance that is in place – limit your number of contacts, wash your hands regularly and thoroughly, keep your distance and cover your face. If you test positive by any method, you must isolate to stop the spread of the virus.

For more information, visit www.brent.gov.uk/enhancedtesting

Monday 16 November 2020

NEU call on Government to 'massively increase' level of testing for pupils to bring coronavirus under control in schools

 I only have anecdotal evidence on Covid19 positive test results in Brent secondary schools so have put in an FYI request to Brent Council for actual statistics.

This is the National Education Union statement released on Friday:

ONS data shows highest rate of infection is amongst secondary aged pupils.
 
The Office for National Statistics' latest infection survey shows that secondary-age pupils now have the highest rate of infection of any age group and, whilst it has fallen a little as a result of the half-term holiday, it is likely to carry on increasing. 
 
The National Education Union has today received a letter from Sir Patrick Vallance and Professor Sir Ian Diamond  in response to a set of questions posed on 20 October.  The letter confirms that ONS and SAGE will be collecting data on school bubbles and ventilation, which is particularly important given the emerging evidence on airborne transmission of the virus. 
 
The NEU is concerned that the continued trajectory of infection rates in schools and colleges will make this lockdown much less effective, and not make the sacrifice worthwhile. Initial indications show that R has not come down far enough - ZOE estimate it to be 0.9, whilst SAGE estimate it 1.0 – 1.2 (see note 4). This indicates that while coronavirus might go into retreat, it will not retreat very far.
This concern is heightened by the SAGE finding that children aged 12-16 played a "significantly higher role” in introducing infection into households in the period after schools reopened their doors to all students. 
 
We are also troubled by new evidence from Public Health England  showing that the positivity rate amongst school-age children is extremely high. For secondary age children it is 18% and for primary age children it is 12%. The level of testing amongst school-age children has actually fallen in recent weeks. This means that only a tiny proportion of pupils with coronavirus are self-isolating. We call on the Government to take urgent steps to massively increase the level of testing for school pupils. 
 
Dr Mary Bousted, Joint General Secretary of the National Education Union, said: 
We are pleased that SAGE has recognised the important role that schools and school-age children play in transmission of the virus . We have been concerned for some time that an erroneous belief that children do not play a significant role in the transmission of coronavirus was badly distorting policy. This is in spite of a clear and sharp trend in infection rates among secondary school pupils in particular since the start of term. 
 
We call on the Government to play a much more active role to suppress the transmission of COVID within schools. Schools have gone to great lengths to make themselves as safe as possible but there is only so much they can do on their own. We put forward a ten-point plan in June with suggestions including hiring additional space and teachers to reduce class sizes.  More recently we have put forward ideas to enable social distancing in schools through the use of rotas for older secondary school pupils.  All these suggestions were ignored. Schools have been given inadequate advice - more often than not delivered at the last minute - and with no additional funding. 
 
The situation is untenable and widespread disruption will continue unless the Government takes steps to get coronavirus under control in schools.

Thursday 17 March 2016

Driive to total academisation will do nothing for the crisis engulfing schools

Kevin Courtney, Deputy General Secretary of the NUT, has made the following statement on government plans to force all schools to become academies
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Finally the Government has come clean on its education priorities and admitted that its real agenda all along has been that every school must become an academy. The fig leaf of ‘parental choice’, ‘school autonomy’ and ‘raising standards’ has finally been dropped and the Government’s real agenda has been laid bare – all schools to be removed from the support of their LA and schools instead to be run by remote academy trusts, unaccountable to parents, staff or local communities.


Parents will be as outraged as teachers that the Government can undo over 50 years of comprehensive public education at a stroke. Only last week HMCI Sir Michael Wilshaw pointed out to Government the serious consequences for children’s education of schools being run by multi-academy trusts. But this arrogant Government is choosing to ignore the evidence from the HMCI, the Education Select Committee and the Sutton Trust’s own Chain Effects report, which clearly demonstrates that academy status not only does not result in higher attainment but that many chains are badly failing their pupils, particularly their disadvantaged pupils.


The Government’s ultimate agenda is the privatisation of education with schools run for profit. The NUT will continue to resist the Government’s attempts to privatise our education system and will campaign alongside parents and other allies to Stand Up for Education.


The most urgent problems in schools are to do with the chronic teacher shortage, real terms funding cuts, the school places crisis, chaotic implementation of the curriculum, and workload going through the roof. The drive towards total academisation will do absolutely nothing to fix those problems.

Friday 4 September 2015

Let's pause and consider an alternative vision for education before the system imprisons us for another year

Children and teachers returned to school this week with both facing the narrow concept of education now embodied in the high stakes testing regime imposed by successive governments.

Before they and parents are captured by the system for another year I recommend viewing this Al Jazeera interview with Sir Ken Robinson. Wide ranging and at time very personal it gives much food for thought.

Another education system is possible.


Sunday 12 October 2014

Natalie Bennett explains Green Party policy on education

Natalie Bennett, leader of the Green party, spoke yesterday at a meeting of the Anti Academies Alliance on Green Party policy. My apologies for the jerkiness of the video at the beginning.


Saturday 4 October 2014

We need to follow up today's Independent letter on pressure on pupils with a national campaign

This is the text of the letter signed by educationalists, authors, teachers, parents and grandparents published in the Independent today. I tried to sign when it was on line but was thwarted by technical problems - I fully support it as an ex-teacher and current governor at two Brent schools.

The letter is in line with Green Party Policy and the NUT's Education Manifesto and could form the basis of a national campaign.

As parents and educators we find ourselves increasingly concerned at the pressure that is being placed on our children and young people. We worry about the long term impact that this pressure may have on our children’s emotional health, particularly on the most vulnerable in our society. We are concerned to hear of children crying on their way to school, upset that they will not be able to keep up; of parents worried that their four year olds are ‘falling behind’ or of six year olds scared that they ‘might not get a good job’. And we wonder what has happened to that short period in our lives known as ‘childhood’.


The pressure that is put on schools to achieve results, particularly in the tests that now form such a regular feature of a child’s life, has inevitably led to increased pressure on the children themselves. This is not to blame teachers, or schools. Rather, it is to say that with test results becoming such a high stakes feature of our education system, schools are put in a very difficult position. When test results are the key measure of whether a child’s school is ‘good’ or not, we believe that every child’s entitlement to a broad and balanced education is put at risk. We believe all children have the right to become fully rounded individuals, and that in order to help them achieve this, we must protect their emotional well-being, now and for the future. We believe all children have the right to be treated as individuals, and to be allowed to develop at a pace that is right for them, not to meet a Government target.
We call for all those who are equally concerned to speak out against the direction in which education in England, and in other countries around the world, is moving. We call for governments around the world to take into account children’s emotional well-being when they consider the ‘effectiveness’ of schools and other educational settings.

Tuesday 11 March 2014

Natalie Bennett: Narrow schooling for a failed economic model betrays pupils

This article by Natalie Bennett, leader of the Green Party, was first published yesterday by the Huffington Post, LINK  under the title:

Education Reform - Why It's Time to Abolish Dictatorial, Oppressive Ofsted

When I talk to people in the schools system, there's a huge and growing concern that we are on entirely the wrong path in terms of institutional structures, teaching practice and direction. These were all issues addressed when we updated the Green Party education policy at our Spring Conference in Liverpool.
The policy calls for the abolition of Ofsted, which has become unduly dictatorial, oppressive and rigid in its views, while also being subject to political meddling.

It calls for its replacement with continuous collaborative assessment and for national council educational excellence working closely with local authorities. To further encourage local accountability and reaction to local needs, the policy calls for education authorities to encourage schools to set up parent councils or forums, providing a mechanism for direct local input, and also for representatives of older students to be able to attend governing body meetings and have input into their decisions.

This all reflects the fact that a general revolt against Ofsted is growing, with schools around the country (and their communities) saying that its processes are not fair or reasonable, its criteria arbitrary, and its inspections incredibly stressful and destructive.

From Hogarth Primary in London, to a range of Stoke-on-Trent schools; from Oldfield School in Bath to Sandy Lane Primary in Reading, and many more, there's grave dissatisfaction at Ofsted's behaviour and a failure of transparency and apparent fairness in its decisions.

Schools that serve disadvantaged communities, and community schools that the government wants to convert to free status, often despite the wishes of parents, seem particularly vulnerable to negative Ofsted inspections, despite the views of parents and their communities.

That's in part a function of the increasing pressure on all schools to produce test results at the expense of any broader quality of education, and to follow narrowly prescriptive recipes for teaching, of which perhaps the worst example is the phonics test.

The ideological attachment of our current education secretary to this single method, based on an extraordinarily narrow evidence base, is possibly the worst single example of 'goveism' - the attempts to decide the nature and content of what our children are taught according to the whims, prejudices and preferences of a single man.

It's telling that when I talk to sixth formers and university students around the country, one comment that invariably gets enthusiastic support is my call for pupils to no longer be treated like the material in a sausage machine, shoved through a series of gauges to force them into a uniform shape and size, with 'failure' penalised by them being thrown aside into the 'waste' bin. That's why we're calling for an end to the current testing regime and rigid age-related benchmarking.

Our new policy also highlights the way in which free schools, like academies, lack local democratic accountability and oversight, and calls for them to be incorporated back into the state system, with oversight from local authorities.

That reflects growing signs of collapse in the free and academies school systems, with disasters ranging from the E-Act education charity, which is to have nearly a third of its 34 schools taken off it, to the frankly incredible disaster of the Al-Madinah school in Derby.

There are huge numbers of empty places in free schools, and the lack of planning for future pupil numbers is having disruptive impacts around the country. The government certainly won't admit it, but this is an utterly failed policy. It was always clear that the free school programme was an attempt to open the way for private companies to make profits from teaching our students - threatening the same kind of destruction and chaos that companies like G4S, A4E and Atos have brought to so many other public services. But there's increasing hope now that the whole system will fall apart before getting to that point - which is great for the long-term future of our school system, but dreadful for the many thousands of pupils and parents caught up in this Govian mess.

There is an even broader problem with the nature of our education system that needs to be tackled. We're increasingly being told that its purpose is narrowly instrumental - to prepare pupils for jobs - despite the fact that many of the states we're now trying to copy - from Singapore to China - have released the limitations and problems of that approach and are frantically seeking to improve their students' creativity and general skills development.

Training pupils for jobs that often don't exist now, or may well not exist in the future, is an obvious, enormous waste. We're in a fast-moving world, and young people need to develop their ability and desire to learn throughout their life, to have flexible skills, whether intellectual or hands-on, to deal with what is going to be a rapidly changing economy and society. To prepare pupils for the narrow conditions of our failed economic model is a massive error that betrays our young people.

For more details on Green Party education policy and reforms follow https://twitter.com/GreenEdPolicy

Saturday 11 January 2014

The Green Party's Education Policy offers a real alternative

Tristram Hunt's proposals on licensing teachers ignited a furious Twitter firestorm last night with teachers declaring that this was the last straw: there was no one on their side and no party they could vote for. A surge of support for Labour amongst teachers recently recorded in polls looks like evaporating quickly.

There is a party that rejects the centralising and privatising educational agenda of the three neo-liberal parties and that is the Green Party.  Labour started the process of academisation and it is their granting of unprecedented powers to the Secretary of State that Michael Gove is now utilising. Tristam Hunt's proposal should really not come as a surprise.

The Green Party's Spring Conference will be considering a series of amendments aimed at strengthening education policy  which will result in a real alternative which will be attractive to teachers and parents.

Starting from first principles we would state:
The Green Party believes that education should provide everyone with the knowledge and full range of skills they require to participate fully in society and lead a fulfilled life. The Green Party rejects market driven models of education that see its role only in terms of international economic competitiveness and preparation for work
We want to develop an education system that will nurture a desire to learn throughout life. We will do this through a child-centred approach to learning which builds on the skills and interests of each individual child.We will therefore end the current testing regimes and rigid age related benchmarking.
Education should be at the heart of communities and for communities, and should promote equality, inclusivity, social and emotional well-being and responsibility and be democratically accountable to them.
 The Green Party believes that the early years is a unique educational stage in its own right and not just a preparation for school. We recognises the great variance in children's development in the early years and the importance of a developmentally appropriate  provision which includes the important role of play in early learning
These principles lead on to

Education is a right and an entitlement and should be free at the point of delivery to people of all ages.Education is social rather than market provision and we oppose any attempt to privatise state-funded schools or to enable them to become profit-making.  

Free schools and academies, although publicly funded, currently lack local democratic accountability and oversight. We will reintegrate them into the local authority school system.
 In order to do this we have to strengthen local authorities and reduce the powers of the Secretary of State:
The Green Party recognises the key role of Local Authorities in the planning and provision of new school places, establishment of fair admissions policies, ensuring of equality of access for Looked After Children and those with disabilities and special needs, and the provision of School Support Services. We will therefore strengthen local authorities through adequate funding and seek to enhance their local democratic accountability. We will review and reduce the powers of the Secretary of State.
In schools we will tackle the dominance of testing which leads to teaching to the test rather than real education:
There is currently too much emphasis on national tests and fulfilling marking schemes, which can oppress teaching and learning and create a great deal of unnecessary pressure on children as young as 5. Teaching and learning are too often dominated by meeting targets and ticking boxes both for teachers and for pupils. The Green Party will abolish external SATs nad the Year 1 Phonics Test.
We tackle the increasingly politicised role of Ofsted by proposing a new body:
 The Green Party will instate a system of local accountability using continuous, collaborative assessment of schools. We would replace OFSTED with an independent National Council of Educational Excellence which would have regional officers tasked to work closely with LAs. The National Council would be closely affiliated with the NFER
Accountability will be important:
 Where pupils’ attainment and progress is reported as part of a school’s holistic report to parents and the wider community it will include assessments, including value-added, moderated by the National Council of Education Excellence and the local authority’s School Improvement Service as well as the school’s own self evaluation
Secondary and college students will have a right to attend meetings of the Governing Body of schools and members of the elected School Council will have voting rights. Governing Bodies in primary schools will have the duty to regularly consult with the elected pupil School Council.
 The Green Party will encourage schools and colleges to set up Parent Forums or Parent Councils to enhance the school’s accountability and improve communication and collaboration over issues such as curriculum, provision, homework, attendance and behaviour management
Inequality is entrenched in our school system, often through admissions systems and we will tackle this issue: 

Currently there exists a range of inequality within our education system. This can often stem from unfair admissions processes, particularly in private schools, grammar schools, faith schools, free schools and academies. These processes often serve to work against already the most disadvantaged young people in our society (such as those from poorer backgrounds or ethnic minorities). In order to provide an equal opportunity for all young people then admissions must be as balanced and fair as possible.

Selection by aptitude, ability, or social class runs counter productive to creating a high quality education system for all students. Excellent all-ability schools with balanced intakes are the best way of ensuring that every child receives a first-rate education
 The local authority will determine admissions arrangements for all local state funded schools. Ideally young people will be placed at their local schools. However currently, due to the social and economic characteristics of different areas, placing children in their local schools can be a source of segregation and inequality. Therefore local authorities should aim to provide schools (particularly secondary) in their local area with a balanced, comprehensive intake as far as practically possible.
 The Green Party recognizes that the current mix of local authority, private, faith, grammar, academy and free schools reinforces social and ethnic divisions in society. A truly comprehensive intake and mixed ability teaching, coupled with equitable funding based on need, will extend equality of opportunity. We will therefore create a system that facilitates and encourages greater integration.
The recent attacks on teachers conditions of service are clearly a major concern and risk an exodus from the profession:
Teachers are the key resource within the education system. They need first class initial preparation, continuing professional development and appropriate salaries.

Every child should be taught by a teacher with Qualified Teacher Status and Principals and Headteachers of state funded schools should have QTS.

 A Green government will work with the teaching unions to reverse the process by which teachers have gradually been deskilled and their professional autonomy eroded and will review pension arrangements and retirement age with them.

 The Green Party opposes the introduction of performance related pay in education.
The amended policy having stated why we are opposed to academies goes on:
  The Free Schools programme is similarly democratically unaccountable with even more power handed to the Free School providers to decide the curriculum, admissions policy and whether to employ unqualified teachers or headteachers/principals with no formal teaching experience or qualifications
 For these reasons the Green Party is opposed to creating more Academies and Free Schools and will support community, school and parent campaigns that share this aim.
The Green Party will integrate Academies and Free Schools back into the local authority school system. In the short term, where Academies are in operation, we would instigate a maximum 25% voting rights for sponsor appointees to ensure proper democratic and community representation on Academy boards.
Unlike other parties Conference is the Green Party's supreme decision making body and there is extensive pre-conference discussion of motions and a workshop at Conference before a motion is debated. Motions are prioritised by a ballot of members so I urge Green Party members to vote for this motion as first preference. It is a long motion and needs proper debate and a high place on the agenda will ensure there is sufficient time to debate it.

The prioritisation ballot closes at 23.59 on January 15th. Follow this LINK to the ballot.

The current Green Party Education Policy can be found HERE















Sunday 25 August 2013

When Schools Become Dead Zones of the Imagination - Henry Giroux




Copyright, Truthout.org. Reprinted with permission   LINK

At the forthcoming Green Party Conference I will be moving a motion to start a revision process of the Party's Education Policy in the light of the enormous changes being brought about by Michael Gove. There will also be a panel discussion on academies and free schools

This interview with Henry Giroux and the full article LINK take the argument about the neoliberal approach to education much further than most commentaries and analysis.

These are ideas that should inform our debate.