SEVERAL cases of coronavirus have been confirmed at one of the district's high schools.

Ponteland High School has moved to reassure parents after eight pupils tested positive for the virus.

Hexham Courant:

In a statement to parents on the school's website, headteacher Kieran McGrane said: "This has been a particularly busy week especially as we have been dealing with our first confirmed cases of students testing positive for Covid-19.

"I am well aware that this will have caused an increase in anxiety for parents but I want to reassure you by sharing some facts and dispelling some misinformation that I understand is circulating amongst parents.

"Since we returned to school on 2 September we have had 8 confirmed cases amongst students; this represents 0.5% of our student population.

"This is a tiny proportion of our students but I do understand that each new case brings further worry and anxiety for parents.

"We have no cases of positive staff tests.

"We have had at least one positive case in every year group except Y7 and Y8

"The positive cases in school have been through community transmission and not caused by school transmission

"I spoke with public health teams from Newcastle and Northumberland yesterday who confirmed that, within the north east, rates of infection are on the increase but the overwhelming majority of cases are through community transmission

"Each time we have a confirmed case I liaise with the NCC public health team and the local Public Health England (PHE) team to discuss the situation and agree a way forward

"When we have a confirmed case we identify close contacts (staff and students) who are then advised to self isolate; parents are then contacted by phone and receive a follow up letter to that effect.

"Every parent in the affected year group will also receive a letter stating that their child was not a close contact and can still attend school

"At this time, and on the advice of PHE, we are not isolating full year groups; we believe this is the correct approach for our students to enable as many of them as possible to experience continuity in their studies."

Earlier this week, Northumberland County Council confirmed that 34 schools across the county had confirmed cases of coronavirus since the start of the year.