A PERSHORE headteacher has undertaken NHS training to lead his school’s weekly Covid-19 testing programme.

Chris Allen has been donning a plastic pinny and getting to grips with swabs in the science labs and his efforts to keep safe pupils and staff and Bowbrook House School appear to be paying off.

Mr Allen took part in the training during the Christmas break and has been at the heart of work in the classroom converted in a controlled testing centre.

To date, all pupils who have been attending and all staff have been tested twice with showing negative results. No bubbles have collapsed and no year groups have had to be sent home during the past 10 months.

Pupils and staff will continue to be tested on a weekly basis and Mr Allen was quick to share the plaudits.

“I think it’s fair to say that swabbing my staff and the children for a virus to keep us safe was not covered in teacher training, nor was it something I ever foresaw when I became a teacher,” he said.

“In my 30 years of teaching this is the most stressful and testing time for the whole school community but the adaptability, flexibility and sheer professionalism of my staff cannot be praised highly enough.

“To have tested all staff twice and all pupils twice since the start of term is reassuring to all.”

The majority of pupils are currently learning remotely, using the school’s learning platform Bowbrook Study, which provides face-to-face remote teaching and lessons with pupils following a full timetable.

The school has a dedicated cleaner sanitising the school throughout the day and pupils learn, eat and play in designated areas according to their year groups. Small class sizes and spacious grounds and rooms has helped limit the spread.