A SOUTHAMPTON school has moved to remote learning after positive Covid-19 cases were identified in the community.

In a letter to parents yesterday, Newlands Primary School in Millbrook said that all year groups will switch to remote learning from today until the end of term on July 22.

This comes after "extensive conversations" took place between the school, Public Health England and the council after positive Covid-19 cases in the community lead to bubble closures.

Now, children who were in school yesterday have received a paper learning pack that will also be emailed to all children.

In the letter to parents, the headteacher, Karen Mellor, said: "The decision to not have children on site has not been taken lightly but is in the interest of safety for all.

"We have been impacted by positive cases in the community leading to bubble closures, staff and senior leader requirements to self-isolate due to being close contacts with positive cases outside of the school, and in addition staff needing to stay home due to their own children’s bubble closures in other schools."

Children who are entitled to benefits-related Free School Meals are now being offered parcels for the next week and after that, food vouchers are due to be issued for the summer holiday period.

The headteacher added: "I realise that this will be incredibly frustrating and saddening for many of you and we are equally frustrated and saddened, however, the situation experienced by children and staff over the last week is unsustainable, with large numbers of children being asked to self-isolate and a constant flow of tracking and tracing.

"The rationale is to minimise contacts and break the transmission to end the cycle of children and staff needing to self-isolate."

The school and the council have been approached for comment.