A Merseyside high school has said its pupils can go home until September following a rise in Covid cases.
Parents of pupils at Greenbank High in Southport have been given the option as to whether to send children into school, or for them to learn from home.
The school said as of this morning (Friday), there were just 284 pupils in school out of the 828 who attend, due to bubbles having to isolate in accordance with government guidelines.
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Part of an email sent to parents said the increase in cases has led to "increased anxiety amongst children and parents" especially when children are having to "isolate several times often soon after returning from a previous spell".
The email goes on to say: "Every time we whole-school test we are finding a trend of about three or four positive cases which then results in pupils isolating which often outweighs the number of pupils returning.
"We do not expect this to change when looking at our trend and current Sefton data.
"To ensure a high quality of education we have decided to move to remote learning for all pupils, except Year 7 pupils who are in class bubbles, from Monday, July 12, whether they are attending school or isolating at home."
Parents who wish to send their children to school have been asked whether children can bring their own device to school, to enable them to learn remotely - while at school.
The email includes a link to an online form, which gives parents the following options:
- My child is not isolating and will be in school as normal
- My child is isolating (close contact or positive for covid) for the whole week and will be accessing online learning
- My child is isolating for part of the week and will access online learning, once her isolation is completed she will return to school
- My child is isolating for part of the week and although I am aware that forms are mainly kept as bubbles, I intend to keep my child at home.
- My child is not isolating and although I am aware that forms are mainly kept as bubbles, I intend to keep my child at home.
The online form for parents of those in Year 7 also gives an option for "My child is not isolating and although I am aware that forms are mainly kept as bubbles, I intend to keep my child at home."
Parents have been asked to complete the form by 5pm today (Friday).
Sefton's coronavirus rate has more than doubled in a fortnight.
Figures from July 4 show the borough has an infection rate of 469 per 100,000 people.
Two weeks prior to this, on June 20, its infection rate was 199 per 100,000 people.
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