A year group of students at Biddulph High School was sent home early today due to a shortage of teachers caused by Covid absences.

Pupils in Year 10 were sent home earlier than usual today, at 2:15pm, after Covid meant eight staff members had to stay home.

Parents were informed of the early finish in a letter yesterday, although more staff are expected to return to school tomorrow so it's hoped that this will be a one-off.

Biddulph High School head teacher Elizabeth Robinson explained in the letter that keeping the school open for all students was becoming "increasingly difficult" due to absences caused by the virus.

She also added that Biddulph was "in the eye of the storm" when it came to Covid, and asked parents to encourage their children to keep wearing masks in school, despite the forthcoming removal of the requirement to wear masks in schools by Government.

She said: "We are looking at this on a day-by-day basis as we want to do all we can to keep our school open for all students. However, this is becoming increasingly difficult.

"When teaching staff are absent, we must provide another member of staff to 'cover' the lesson. As you can imagine we only have a small pool of staff (this includes leadership) available for each lesson to cover for absent colleagues.

"Once we reach a certain number of staff absent, we must contact a supply agency and pay for a supply teacher to come in. Unfortunately, supply agencies do not have enough staff due to the high demand and cannot help us most days.

"We have tried to address this issue by appointing a cover supervisor and by booking some supply for longer periods, but this does not help when we have such a significant number absent."

On the relaxing of rules around masks in schools she added: "Please remember that although restrictions are changing nationally we are still very much in the eye of the storm in Biddulph and I would urge you to talk to your child about continuing to wear a mask in school.

"I would also remind you that testing twice a week is essential too. This is about protecting others and trying to prevent further absence for staff and students."