Leighton Buzzard school makes 'heartbreaking' decision to close for a week due to Covid-19 outbreak

A Leighton Buzzard school has made the "heartbreaking" decision to close for a week due to a Covid 19 outbreak.

Brooklands Middle School will not open its doors until Monday, July 5, due to a rising number of positive cases and "large number of staff and children isolating".

Lessons will continue online and the school wishes to thank parents for their continued support as it "keeps the community safe" and "breaks the cycle of infection".

Headteacher Julie Hodgson told the LBO: "After speaking to the Department of Education and our Chair of Governors, on Saturday morning we had to take an extremely difficult decision to close the school from Monday morning and reopen on Monday 5th July. This is due to what is now being considered to be an outbreak of Covid 19 cases at the school.

"This is the last thing we ever wanted to do but unfortunately due to the rising number of positive cases and the large number of staff and children isolating we have had to do this to keep our community safe and break the cycle of infection.

"Pupils will be taught by staff via live/ pre-recorded lessons as laid out in our remote learning policy.

"Public Health in Central Bedfordshire have commented to us about the rising number of positive cases in this area and we are aware of a number of schools where bubbles are isolating.

"Parents have been very supportive and understanding of the situation and we would like to thank them for their continued support.

“This was a heartbreaking decision to make as our pupils have experienced so much disruption this year already. However, we have a duty of care to keep all our children, families and staff safe and we hope that by taking this action we have managed to do so.”