TAVISTOCK College sent 148 children home this morning after a pupil tested positive for Covid-19.

College principal Sarah Jones said the children were ‘close proximity contacts’ of the child who is ill.

The school remains open until Friday, which is the last day of term.

She said: ‘We have had a positive case in Year 9 and just over 140 students have had to be sent home.

‘No members of staff are affected. Nobody else is showing symptoms but we are told by Public Health England to send home children who are ‘close proximity contacts’, in other words that they have been in close contact with the child affected. It is a precautionary measure.

She added: ‘A letter has been sent to all parents explaining the situation.’

All those children are being asked to self-isolate for ten days, which is until Christmas, in case they develop symptoms.

The siblings of those self-isolating did not need to self-isolate themselves, she said.

She said she wanted to scotch suggestions that Covid was sweeping through the school community.

‘We have had five cases in total and all the cases have been in separate year groups and bubbles,’ she said. ‘I want to reassure parents that schools are as safe as they can be and I feel confident that that remains the case.

‘The virus is spreading through the population, it is not spreading through the school. We have got it in different year groups and those year groups don’t mix. I think people do need to be very careful in the holiday that they don’t inadvertently spread the virus and make the situation worse in Tavistock.’

Children are due back in school on January 5 for the start of the spring term.