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School and nursery closed in Highlands due to ‘public health measures’ and ‘unforeseen circumstances’

Lochinver Primary School, Sutherland

A primary school and a nursery will be closed to pupils and staff on Thursday due to “unforeseen circumstances” and “public health measures”.

Lochinver Primary in Sutherland, which was closed on Monday and Tuesday of this week but reopened on Wednesday, is once again shut due to public health measures.

The closure means 28 pupils will be learning from home.

Meanwhile, Resolis Primary Nursery in Dingwall is also closed due to unforeseen circumstances, meaning six children will be at home on Thursday.

A total of 34 children have been affected by the closures.

The recent picture

Thursday’s closures are the latest in a list of school closures in the Highlands over recent weeks.

The local authority said last week that the step was needed due to staff either testing positive for Covid themselves or being required to self-isolate after being identified as a close contact or while they await test results.

Closures are understood to be as a result of staff shortages due to the Covid issues.

On Wednesday, the nursery at Strathdearn Primary School, the nursery at Durness Primary and Carbost Primary in Skye were all closed, however they are expected to reopen on Thursday.

Highland school closures: Is Covid being spread on school buses?

School bus travel could be partly to blame for the current Covid spike in north schools, according to the experts.

Face masks on school transport and rolling out the vaccine to younger children could be possible solutions to the area’s problem.

Hundreds of Highland pupils have been stuck at home in the past two weeks as secondary and primary schools were closed at short notice.

The reason for the apparent rise specifically in the north was a mystery.

But now, local NHS public health director Dr Tim Allison has explained some possible reasons for the spike.

He spoke to the council’s education committee about the “surprising” rise of Covid cases among Highland primary school children.