Sheffield secondary school moves to remote learning over Covid concerns

In a letter sent to parents on Monday, Firth Park Academy said its Year 8 and Year 10 group bubbles will move to entirely live online lessons from tomorrow and will only return to school on Thursday, July 8.

The school said: “This means that Year 8 and Year 10 students will need to work from home for the next 10 days in order to stop the risk of transmission of the Covid-19 Delta variant within these year groups.

"Our students will need to help protect our community by treating this time like a period of isolation by staying indoors in their household bubble.”

However, there are currently no positive cases in the Year 7 bubble and they are to attend school as normal with standard precautions in place, with face coverings reintroduced.

As for Year 9, those consenting students currently not isolating will be invited in at 8am for a test in the gym before admission to school due to some positive cases recorded in the bubble.

"We are working with Public Health Sheffield to ensure any risk of transmission is prevented.”

It was reported last week that more aggressive Delta variant of coronavirus have been recorded in Sheffield.

Public Health England figures showed 556 cases of the Delta variant - first identified in India – had been recorded in Sheffield by June 23, 270 more than the 286 cases recorded the week before.