Information for private, voluntary and independent nurseries joining the education COVID-19 testing programme

Message from the Department for Education:

Dear nursery colleague,

Following the the announcement on 22 February, nurseries in the private, voluntary and independent (PVI) sector will soon have access to home testing kits through the COVID-19 education testing programme.

PVI nurseries can expect to start receiving initial deliveries of testing supplies and instructions for use for asymptomatic testing from this Thursday 11 March. You will not need to place an order or take any specific steps to receive an initial delivery of testing supplies. The initial delivery of supplies should last around 3 to 4 weeks.

Please make sure that someone is available who can accept the deliveries when they arrive. A delivery schedule will be circulated shortly which will provide details as to when your setting can expect its delivery. Please refer to this schedule in the first instance of any questions arising.

The lateral flow device (LFD) test kits should be stored securely at a temperature between 2˚C and 30˚C and so must not be stored outside.

You should not open the test kits or commence testing yet. We will circulate further guidance on asymptomatic home testing in the next couple of days. This will include in-depth guidance and webinars on how settings can manage the testing process.

To add you to the education testing programme, Ofsted has provided your contact details to the Department for Education and Department of Health and Social Care. We will only use your contact details to update you with the latest information on the COVID-19 education testing programme.

Kindest regards

Kate Cornish and May El Komy