Second Doncaster school reports more than 60 Covid cases among staff and pupils

Sir Thomas Wharton Academy in Edlington has clocked up a total of 61 coronavirus cases, with 22 of them among staff, a letter to parents has announced.

At the weekend, it was revealed that another Doncaster secondary school has also recorded more than 60 cases.

An insider at that school, which the source declined to name for fear of repercussions, said that coronavirus was rife and that cases were being kept under wraps from parents.

Now in a separate move, the Edlington school has released figures to parents showing the amount of cases in each year.

Year 10 at the Tait Avenue school was the worst hit, with 12 cases. There were eight cases each in years 8 and 9, two in year 7, eight in Year 11 and one in Year 12.

Year 13 was the only bubble not to record a positive case.

Principal Yvonne Bootman said: “Unfortunately we had several new cases over half term that impacted on the return date for some year groups.

"We also experienced a large number of staff absence last week which meant that regrettably, we had to close the Year 9 bubble for three days in order to maintain health and safety requirements around the site.

"I really appreciate your support as we navigate this challenging and complex situation.”

On Saturday, a source at another of Doncaster’s largest secondary schools, said parents were being kept in the dark about the number of positive cases among pupils and urged for transparency from school chiefs.