Covid: Herefordshire schools' half-term 'fire break'

Two Herefordshire schools have closed early for half-term because of a rising number of coronavirus cases.

Both Lady Hawkins High School in Kington and Eardisley Primary School are shut on Friday, allowing for a ten-day "fire break".

The sites are due to re-open on Monday 1 November.

The head teacher at Lady Hawkins, Paul Jennings, said the school had also increased cleaning and reintroduced face masks in classes.

In a Facebook message to parents, Mr Jennings said his school had been offering students supervised lateral flow tests after recently becoming aware of rising cases of Covid-19 among the school community.

The statement continued: "We have taken the decision to close for half term on Thursday 21 October, which is only a day early, but allows everyone 10 full days away from school, to act as a 'fire break' in transmission."

Herefordshire Council said the decision was taken by both schools, following consultation with the authority, "due to the combination of positive cases among both staff and pupils".

It added that having no school on Friday would also facilitate the completion of a ten-day isolation period for anyone testing positive just before the break.

At county level, over the seven days to 22 October, 892 new cases of coronavirus were identified, a rate of 461 cases per 100,000 people.

That gives the county the 175th highest rate out of 315 English local authority areas.

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