A Moray school was forced to close yesterday after a sickness bug wiped out the teaching staff.
A shortage of supply teachers meant education bosses were unable to open St Peter’s RC School in Buckie.
The same illness meant a third of the 95 pupils were absent on Friday.
Last night schools chiefs said the region’s supply teacher shortage had reached critical level.
Laurence Findlay, Director of Education and Social Care at Moray Council, said: “The closure of St Peter’s illustrated what we have been warning of for a long time has become a reality — we have a problem with supply teachers in Moray.
“We have a very small pool of supply teachers in Moray, and that pool is diminishing.”
The decision to shut the school was taken on Sunday evening because the already sparse classroom cover list had been assigned elsewhere in the region.
In 2012, there were 217 primary supply teachers on the register, but this month that number dropped to 106.
In the same period, the number of secondary school supply teachers fell from 127 to just 69.
Moray currently has more than 40 teaching vacancies.
Speaking yesterday, a council spokesman said: “St Peter’s Primary School in Buckie was forced to close today due to lack of staff.
“A sickness bug hit the school last week, causing about 30 pupils of the 90-strong roll to be kept home.
“Inevitably the bug has been transmitted to staff and a number have reported in sick today.
“No cover staff was available to meet the numbers needed to continue with classes, so the head teacher and director of education and social care made the decision to close the school.”
Buckie Councillor Gordon Cowie said the closure was unfortunate but he hoped it would be a “one-off”.
“We can’t legislate for illnesses,” he said.
“There have been a lot of sickness bugs going about.
“On Friday, I’m lead to believe a lot of pupils were off with it, and it has obviously spread to the staff. Hopefully, it won’t happen again.”
He added: “I can’t recall the last time a school was closed because of illness.
“We are struggling to fill positions, not just in Moray, but across the whole of the north-east, and supply teachers are in strong demand.”
One mother, whose son attends the school’s nursery programme, said the council had done the right thing in this case.
“I think it’s right they closed for a day if the staff are sick,” she said.
“My son has had the bug as well, and I think it’s been going around quite a few of the schools. The nursery hasn’t really been affected, but closing the primary will hopefully lower the risk of it spreading any further.”
The school is expected to be open as normal today.
Mr Findlay added that action would be needed to address the longer-term issues facing schools across the country.
“Two years ago, we had twice the number of supply teachers in Moray,” he said.
“Many of those will be in long-term work, such as maternity cover, which leaves us with an even smaller pool of available supply teachers.
“Given discussions with my colleagues across the country, this is not a Moray issue. It would appear there are a shortage of supply teachers across Scotland.”