Students at Somersfield Academy will move into remote learning from Monday, according to a letter to parents from the Principal.

Somersfield principal Carlos Symonds said in the letter that the school has not had a positive case but added: “With the general infection rate rising, the first confirmed positive case within our school is, I suspect, imminent.

“As a result of infections in the wider community, a number of our students and staff have already been forced into mandatory quarantine.

“Of particular concern are the number of students who have been identified as close contacts of confirmed cases in the community and/or contacts of contacts.

“While each of these students has received a negative Day 1 test, they are not required by the Department of Health to be tested again until Day 14. This clearly presents a risk of undetected cases.”

Mr Symonds added in the letter: “Yesterday, in a conversation with the Department of Health representative, I was advised that, it is likely that at least one of these contacts will prove to be positive upon their Day 14 test.

“This may, subsequently, impact the households of the students in the affected bubble(s). It is important to note that these contacts are in quarantine and parents of students in these classes have been notified of this threat.

“As we continue to abide by the advice of the Department of Health, we must support their elevated efforts to stem the rising tide of infections among children. In support of this effort, we have taken the pre-emptive decision to move to remote learning for the final week of this term.

“This is an extremely difficult decision to have to make, but it is done with the health and safety of our whole school community as our primary responsibility.”

The remote learning will come into effect on Monday.

* A previous version of this story referred to Mount St Agnes. We apologise for the error.