YEAR eight students at Great Sankey High School will be spending two-and-a-half weeks off school as the year group is told to isolate before the half term holiday.

After a number of positive coronavirus cases in the year group, all pupils will need to isolate from tomorrow, Thursday, until October 23, when the school breaks up for October half term.

Pupils will return to school on November 2.

In a letter sent to parents and carers, John Shannon, head teacher, said: "Over the course of the past few days we have been notified of further positive Covid-19 cases in the Great Sankey High School community and additional cases in year eight in particular.

"We have subsequently been in discussion with the Trust to consider how we best implement measures to minimise further risk and prevent a rapid increase in transmission.

"We have come to the difficult decision to ask students in year eight to work remotely from home for the remainder of this half term.

"As a result, we require all year eight students to self-isolate from Thursday, October 15, up to and including Friday, October 23."

Work will be set for these pupils online.

All other students in years seven, nine, 10, 11, 12 and 13 who are not already isolating and are well should attend school as normal.

The letter continues: "Whilst we appreciate that this is concerning and has a great impact on our year eight cohort, please be assured that the health and well-being of students, staff and our community is our priority.

"It is imperative that as a community we continue to follow the guidelines to minimise transmission of the virus as far as possible and follow the local lockdown rules.

"This will ensure that the number of days lost due to self-isolation is kept to a minimum and as many children as possible across the school can remain in school and learn in a Covid-safe environment."