File picture of Eton
(Picture: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)Students at Eton College have been placed in lockdown after Covid cases ripped through the £42,500-a-year boarding school.
Around 50 students were told to remain inside their boarding house for 48 hours where they were switched to remote learning at the start of the week.
The entire school was told to put face masks back on and take daily Covid tests, with assemblies cancelled until Eton breaks up for half term on Saturday.
The college said just one boarding house was self-isolating with students able to go to their own separate garden, gym or return home if they wished.
One “appalled” parent told the Telegraph: “The school has gone into hunkering down mode.
“It’s like we are living in a two-tier society where young people are still being put into lockdown and bending over backwards for something they are not even going to be very ill for.”
A spokesman for the school said: “Pupils and staff in one particular boarding house have been asked to self-isolate for 48 hours, either at school or at home.
“This decision was taken on medical advice, having consulted with our local Health Protection team and is consistent with Eton’s Outbreak Management Plan.”
The school said that pupils have been “free to move around the boarding house, including having regular access to the garden and to the gym, and have taken meals in a central College location, separate from other staff and pupils”.
They claimed that parents have been “understanding and supportive” of the measures.
Eton College has been approached for further comment.
