Covid: School closes early for half term after rise in coronavirus cases

A secondary school closed two days early for half term following rising Covid-19 cases amongst pupils and staff.

Admiral Lord Nelson School, in Portsmouth, Hampshire, closed its doors on Thursday after 161 students were isolating along with 17 staff absent, mostly because of Covid-19.

A statement on the school’s website reads: “It is with regret that we have had to take the decision to close the school to most students for the next two days and move to online remote education instead over this two-day period.

“Over the last two weeks we have had rising numbers of both students and staff having to isolate due to testing positive for Covid-19.

“To mitigate against this, we have increased hygiene and cleaning procedures, encouraged regular testing by all and brought back in the use of face masks in communal areas.

“However, these measures have not been as affective as we would have liked them to be and in the last three days cases of Covid-19 have risen rapidly.”

It continues: “With half term approaching we had hoped that we would be able to manage through until Friday and that the break over half term would curb the outbreak within the school.

“However due to the figures stated above that are still rising we do not believe it is safe to keep students in school with our reduced staffing that makes it increasingly difficult to maintain high standards of education and safety within our school.”

Remote learning will be provided for pupils during the closure, the statement adds.