Three schools shut over Covid

FOUR Kirklees schools are experiencing Covid-related disruption this week, with three fully closed.

According to Kirklees Council, Ethos College in Dewsbury Moor has been forced to close its doors due to coronavirus impacting on the number of staff members able to work.

A statement posted to the council’s website on behalf of the school read: “Due to staffing levels from the impact of Covid (sic) we have taken the difficult decision to close the school from Monday 30 November to Wednesday 2 December, for the safety and wellbeing of our staff and students.”

It went on to add that the school, which provides longerterm education for Key Stage 4 pupils with wide-ranging needs, will reopen on Thursday but did not confirm whether or not there had been an outbreak of coronavirus among its staff. The

Examiner approached the school for clarification.

It means Ethos College is now one of four schools in Kirklees currently fully or partially closed due to the impact of coronavirus.

Other schools in the region experiencing disruption are:

Flockton First School in Wakefield (fully closed), Hightown Junior, Infant and Nursery School in Liversedge (fully closed), Hinchcliffe Mill Junior and Infant School near Holmfirth (partially closed). Hightown Junior and Infant school is expected to re-open tomorrow after closing due to “Covid impacting on a number of classes.”

Flockton First School, in Wakefield, also confirmed it will welcome its students back tomorrow following a period away from the classroom due to confirmed cases of coronavirus in both its class bubbles.

Hinchcliffe Mill School’s ‘Holly Class’ bubble will return to the classroom next Monday. The class was sent home on Wednesday, November 25, due to a positive coronavirus case “within the school community”.

The impact of coronavirus on education was laid bare last week after figures released by the Department for Education revealed up to 876,000 state school pupils did not attend school for Covid-19-related reasons on November 19 - equating to one in ten pupils.

It led to education unions calling for greater support from the government and admitting the situation had “reached a crisis point.”