A school has sent two whole year groups home due to a staff shortage caused by coronavirus cases.
Pupils in Year 7 and Year 8 at Seaham High School will spend the next week at home due to a number of staff self-isolating.
The Station Road school has suffered a series of cases among Year 8 students in recent weeks.
Headteacher Geoff Lumdson has now apologised to parents in an email notifying them that the school will only be open next week to pupils between Year 9 and Year 11.
"I'm afraid I am going to have to close the Year 7 Group Bubble and the Year 8 Group Bubble at the end of school today for the period of one week," he wrote.
"This is due to the numbers of staff that are now having to self isolate at home due to either the positive cases we have had in school or positive cases in their personal circumstances."
He added: "I apologise for this situation but feel in the interests of safety I have to reduce the numbers of students in school given the shortage of staff."
During the recent Year 8 outbreak, at least one student who tested positive had been in school during their infectious period.
Those cases prompted Mr Lumdson to contact Public Health England.
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