All pupils at a school have been sent home after two students tested positive for coronavirus.

Aylesford School is requiring all students to work from home today and tomorrow while the premises are deep cleaned after two students, one in Year 9 and another in Year 13, caught the virus.

Children in those year groups meanwhile are required to self-isolate until October 1.

In an email to parents yesterday evening, head teacher Tanya Kelvie said that the school would have to be closed to all pupils for three days not two and students in Year 12, as well as 13 and 9 would have to self-isolate.

However, in a statement issued this afternoon by Ms Kelvie the time frame and year groups had changed.

It read: “The pupils are known to one another outside of school and we have no reason to believe either contracted the virus in school. Colleagues and I sought guidance from Public Health England (PHE) and the two affected year groups will be required to self-isolate at home for 14 days as a preventative measure. The school is providing home learning for those students who will be self-isolating.

“I calculated that up to 15 members of staff may have been in close contact with the two affected pupils while teaching them a variety of subjects. As we were notified of the positive tests late on Monday, September 21, after the school had closed I was unable to speak with all 15 teachers who may have taught the two pupils to determine whether they may have had close contact and would need to also self-isolate.

"Without knowing how many staff would be able to come into school the following day, we could not guarantee we would have enough staff available to open safely and therefore the difficult decision was taken to keep the school closed today. I am pleased to say that after holding discussions with staff, none have been advised to self-isolate.

“All areas of the school are regularly cleaned and PHE advised us to undertake an additional full clean of the school as a preventative measure.

"Given the size of the school and the need to arrange additional cleaning capacity to carry out a full clean in one go, this unfortunately means that the school will also be closed tomorrow to allow the cleaning to be completed.

"The school will be open fully on Thursday, September 24, to all year groups apart from Years 9 and 13 until they return on Thursday, October 1.

“The safety and well-being of all our pupils and staff is of paramount importance and I would like to reassure the whole school community that we will continue to follow PHE guidance going forward in terms of social distancing, handwashing and cleaning to minimise the spread of the virus.

"I would like to thank our pupils, their parents and carers and my staff for their support and understanding during this extremely difficult time.”

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