Two Aberdeen schools will undergo a “deep clean” this weekend after an outbreak of a winter flu bug.
One primary school was closed yesterday, with hundreds of pupils forced to stay at home.
A large number of staff and pupils at Skene Square had fallen ill with Norovirus, meaning around 400 primary pupils and 80 preschool children were told to stay away as a precaution.
A message posted to parents on the school website by head teacher Eileen Jessamine warned that anyone feeling ill should remain off school for at least 48 hours.
Heathryburn School in Northfield is also to be cleaned after reports of children feeling unwell.
But a council spokeswoman said that both schools were due to open again on Monday.
She said: “Aberdeen City Council and the school acted promptly to take the necessary steps to deal with the outbreak, which has caused a number of staff and pupils to be absent.
“This has a direct effect on the running of the school and so a decision has been taken to close to allow it to be deep-cleaned.
“Parents were informed of this decision by the head teacher.
“Heathryburn school is also to be deep-cleaned this weekend after reports of children feeling unwell.”
Councillor Bill Cormie, who represents the Midstocket and Rosemount ward, said: “It’s a hellish situation for the school to be in.
“The school is Victorian and in two parts so it could take a long time to clean. It also has the Victorian classroom in it which has artefacts from the time so I imagine they’ll have to be especially careful when cleaning around them.”
Mr Cormie added that the head teacher had made the “right decision” to close.
He said: “”It could have spread easily.”