A SCHOOL will be shut for three days following an outbreak of sickness among staff and pupils.

Su Whelan, headteacher of Thornden School in Chandler's Ford, made the announcement today, and said the facilities will also be closed tomorrow and on Friday.

In a statement on the school's website she said: "Unfortunately, we have started this morning with a significant number of students and staff reporting that they have been sick overnight; this has continued with sickness in school this morning.

"As a precautionary measure and to ensure that we break the cycle, I am going to close the school and remain closed tomorrow and Friday when we will ensure that a deep clean takes place.

"At this point, we will pull students together and ask them to follow the guidance in their log books and they will then contact the designated person in case of an emergency and a need to close the school.

"Students will return to their tutor bases and only be allowed to leave the site when the tutor has confirmed that contact has been received back from a parent/carer to allow a student to make their own way home.

"Students will remain supervised in school until the end of the day if no contact can be made with parents/carers.

"We are due to have a number of activities, events, exams during the next few days.

"These will all be rearranged (Geography field trip - Year 10, Art exams, language orals etc). No after school activities will take place tonight and we will close except for cleaning staff, returning on Tuesday, after the Bank Holiday weekend.

"Teaching staff will be asked to contact Year 11 students to support revision and where possible make work available for the students."While closing the school is not undertaken lightly, the seriousness of severe sickness and diarrhoea on a large scale must be avoided."

As reported by the Daily Echo, Thornden School was shut in March 2018 after more than 250 youngsters were hit with a vomiting bug.