Headteacher's symptom warning as more than two dozen pupils and staff test positive for Covid

The headteacher of a school at the centre of a Covid outbreak says pupils aren't showing the main symptoms of the virus.

Nineteen pupils and seven members of staff, including the head, have tested positive at Woodfield Primary School in Wigan. Remaining staff 'are working over and above their usual hours, covering for absent colleagues'.

In a letter to parents, the head Anna Prior put the large number of cases down to the easing of wider restrictions outside school and the transmissibility of the current dominant Omicron variant.

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"Whilst we have continued with many of our measures in school, it appears that the removing of wider restrictions coupled with the increased transmissibility of this variant is now making it increasingly difficult to manage infection and transmission," she said.

"We have been in contact with the local health protection team and they are happy with the measures (and additional temporary measures) we have in place. We will continue to work with them to ensure the best balance possible between restrictions and ensuring a positive educational experience for all children."

She urged parents to test themselves and their children between now and the Easter break and warned that those testing positive aren't necessarily displaying the three main symptoms of high temperature, cough, and loss of taste and smell.

"Please be vigilant for any sign of illness," she said. "We are finding that many positive cases are presenting with general cold symptoms – headaches, runny nose, aches, sore throat – and not necessarily the three main symptoms.

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