Mansfield Woodhouse primary school closes after three coronavirus cases

St Edmunds C of E Primary and Nursery school on Church Hill announced on Facebook that it would be closing on Monday, October 5. It is expected that the school will re-open after the half-term break.

Today, Tuesday, October 6, St Edmunds Headteacher Nadeem Shah told the Chad in a statement: “We have been notified of positive cases of Covid-19 in a member of staff and two pupils at school. Following government guidance, we have worked with Public Health England to agree the most appropriate course of action for us to take and, as a precaution, we have been advised to close the school.

“The school takes the safety of its staff and students extremely seriously. Everyone in school has followed all the relevant social distancing procedures consistently since school reopened in September. Whilst the school is closed, pupils should continue their learn using our remote learning platform - Seesaw. We expect school to reopen after half-term, on Monday November 2.

“We informed all of our families as soon as we were able to. Whilst this is disappointing, they have been amazingly supportive. I would like reassure them that we are following all the Public Health England advice and doing all we can. And I would like to thank them and our superb staff team for all their wonderful support during this challenging time.”

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Dave Price, a parent at the school, said: “Throughout these difficult times our school has gone above and beyond with communication to parents. Since the return to school we have been fully informed in an open and honest way, we have multiple methods of communication from Facebook to frequent ParentMail notices which ensure everyone is kept informed about what's going on.

“Our school has adhered to strict social distancing measured as entrance to school is limited to bubble groups then quickly ushered off ready for the next bubble. Children are frequently hand washing and social distancing where possible. The organisation is slick and has been really well thought-out.

“We have a home learning system in place and the teachers are absolutely 'on it' with setting tasks and marking the work that has been completed. We have four children and we are currently home schooling using the support provided from the teachers.

“We completely understand why the measures have been taken and most importantly our children's safety is paramount. Thank you for putting them first. We wish the people who are effected a speedy recovery.”

The Mansfield areas with the highest number of new coronavirus cases in the last week

Recently, there has clearly been a surge in cases locally and nationally, with nearby Nottingham now having the sixth highest Covid rate in the country.

Nottingham now has higher rates than areas like Leicester, Leeds and Birmingham, which are in local lockdowns. As of yesterday (October 5), the latest rolling data shows that Nottingham’s seven-day rate for new cases per 100,000 has risen from 59.5 to 382.4, with around 1,300 new cases confirmed.