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30

Nov 2020

Last Updated: 30/11/2020
Education
Education

All 285 year 11 pupils at Harrogate Grammar sent home due to covid

by Suzannah Rogerson

| 30 Nov, 2020
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Families were informed yesterday after eight infections were confirmed. Year 11 pupils were preparing to take mock GCSEs this week and will now sit some of the exams at home.

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All 285 students in year 11 at Harrogate Grammar School have been told to stay at home to self-isolate for two weeks.

The school contacted families yesterday after the number of infections gradually increased between Thursday and Sunday to eight.

Only pupils in close proximity to those who test positive should isolate.

But the school decided to put the whole year group into isolation when the number of cases rose to eight.

It comes at a difficult time for the students, who were preparing to take mock GCSE exams this week.

A school spokeswoman acknowledged the outbreak had occurred at a bad time but added "the safety of pupils and staff must come first".




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Pupils will now use school computers to complete some of their exams at home - at the same time as they would have done at school.

The students will upload their exam results into a secure folder.

A spokesperson for the school said:

"We know and respect that the students have worked hard to prepare for these exams so we wanted to give them the opportunity to complete them.
"We have made it achievable with the iPads, and so far we have had positive feedback."