COVID-19 testing at Little Lever

Regular Weekly Testing

All students that have consented to testing will need to continue to test twice per week. Follow the link here to order test kits. 

 Each test kit includes 7 Lateral Flow Device tests and students will be expected to test themselves TWICE per week:

TEST 1 = SUNDAY EVENING every week

TEST 2 = THURSDAY EVENING every week

All students and staff will test themselves on the same days each week.  This will allow us enough time to plan staffing arrangements and organise the curriculum.

January on-site testing schedule

How will LFD testing work at Little Lever School?

We have provided an initial outline of the process below:

  1. Those parents/carers that consented for their child to be tested do not need to repeat the consent process.
  2. Students will be given an appointment time. This will state the time and date students will attend school to take their test. This will be sent to parents/carers before Thursday 23rd December. Reminders will be sent in January.
  3. Students will register at the dedicated reception in the sports hall on the day and time of their test.
  4. Students will complete a supervised throat and nasal swab test (please see guidance ‘How to do your test’ below). Students that are unable to self swab will be assisted.
  5. The testing processor will analyse the result and interpret the result as negative, positive or invalid.
  6. Students, parents/carers will be informed if the result is positive. If the test result is invalid, students will need to repeat the test. In line with government guidance if the test result is negative students, parents/carers will not be informed. Students with negative results will be expected to attend school as normal.
  7. Students that test positive will need to take a PCR test. Please see FAQ section below for further details on this.
  8. The whole registration and testing will take approximately 5 minutes.
  9. The results of the test will be ready in approximately 30 minutes.

Guidance for students… How to do your test?

When will testing start at Little Lever School?

Year TESTING Thursday 6th January Friday 7 January
Year 11 Testing in school
Year 10 Testing in school
Year 9A Testing in school
Year 9B Testing in school
Year 8 Testing in school
Year 7 Testing in school
What is happening in School? TEACHING STAFF Training, Moderation, Assessment and Curriculum Day TEACHING STAFF Training, Moderation, Assessment and Curriculum Day
  • Students who have consented to testing will be tested on the days highlighted in the schedule above
  • Students only need to be tested once
  • If students test positive via the LFD test they must self-isolate immediately and must book a confirmatory PCR test as soon as possible
  • Students arriving to school on public transport must ensure they wear a face covering
  • Year 9 will be split into two halves in order that we have the capacity to test all students over two days. Parents and carers will be sent appointment times which will state the date and time slot of your child’s test via the Parent Portal.

Return to school dates for students

Students will be able to return to school as planned on Monday 10th January to ensure no learning time is wasted while we complete our testing schedule.

 

Lateral Flow Device (LFD) testing and how it works

The Lateral Flow Device (LFD) tests are used with students who don’t display symptoms. These tests are trying to find students who may have no symptoms but are infectious.

This type of test is very good at identifying students who have lots of the virus, and are infectious on the day, but isn’t as good at finding the virus in students who aren’t infectious yet (i.e. early in the infection), so they are a kind of spot check test.

The testing involves processing a nose and throat swab sample with an LFD. The LFD looks like a simple pregnancy test and detects a COVID-19 antigen that is produced when a person is infected with COVID-19. If this antigen is present, then a coloured strip on the LFD will appear to show a positive result in a similar way to a pregnancy test.

This is different from the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests that have been carried out at public testing centres across the country, which work in a different way, as the swab kits go to the lab rather than be tested on site.

The PCR tests are better at finding very small amounts of the virus, especially early in infection, so these are used primarily in people who have symptoms and can be booked through the NHS website. It is important to note if anyone in your household displays COVID-19 symptoms you must book a test in the normal way.

If you have a positive lateral flow test you will be asked to book a PCR test.

Visitor Restrictions

From Tuesday 14th December in line with government guidance we will be asking parents and carers to make appointments to come into school.  Before parents or carers enter the school we will be asking you to take an LFD test and show us your result via the reporting system used by the NHS on arrival to the school.  

Unfortunately, due to the current situation we will not be able to allow parents into the school if you have not made an appointment.  To make an appointment please contact us on 01204 333300 or by email at info@little-lever.bolton.sch.uk.  We are happy to meet with parents and carers remotely using our online systems and we are happy to support parents with this where necessary.