North Yorkshire's director of public health says sending Graham School pupils home was 'difficult decision'

Graham School, which has approximately 1,000 pupils, announced that it has closed for 10 days due in order to try and contain the spread of the virus.

North Yorkshire’s director of Public Health, Louise Wallace, said that it had been a “difficult” decision to send pupils home.

She said: “Last week, Graham School was made aware of a number of positive coronavirus cases as a result of routine lateral flow testing, which were later confirmed with PCR tests.

“Since then, more positive cases have been reported to the school.

“In order to prioritise the quality of education as well as the health and well-being of staff and students, Hope Learning Trust has made the difficult decision to close the school temporarily, in conjunction with North Yorkshire County Council and Public Health England.

“Graham School was therefore closed on Friday June 25 and will remain closed until Tuesday July 6.

“This will allow deep cleaning to take place and ensure that everyone who has tested positive and their close contacts have had ten full days of isolation.

“During this temporary closure, classes will move to remote learning.

“We wish a speedy recovery to everyone who has tested positive for coronavirus.”

Scarborough Sixth Form College has also moved to online learning for its students until July 6 due to a “significant number” of students having to isolate.