At least three schools were fully closed this morning after staff members contracted Covid-19.

The secondary schools were part of a growing list of schools across the country disrupted by the virus.

Five members of the teaching staff at Samuel Ward Academy, in Haverhill, Suffolk are reported to have tested positive for the coronavirus. A message on the school website confirmed the school was shut.  

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Trinity Church of England School in Lewisham, South London, said on its website that it would delay its planned reopening today (7 September), following a confirmed case of Covid-19 at the school involving a member of staff.

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Regarding the closure of his school, Samuel Ward Academy headteacher Andy Hunter said it was “a huge disappointment after working so hard to get the school back up and running”.

“I will be looking closely at the systems we put in place to try to understand how the transmission occurred and to make sure we do everything possible to limit the chances of the same thing happening again,” he said, speaking to Essex Live.

Meanwhile, around 100 students at JCB Academy in Rocester, Staffordshire, have been told to self-isolate after a student tested positive for the coronavirus. However, the school confirmed it was open today for the remaining pupils.

And a member of staff at Cardinal Newman Catholic School, in Hove, East Sussex, has tested positive for the coronavirus.

In a letter to parents, headteacher Claire Jarman said: “Two Year 7 classes are affected and I have already contacted those parents directly, as their children will need to self-isolate for 14 days.

“We fully appreciate this is not the start to the new term any of us would have wished for.”

In Middlesbrough, three schools have announced a positive Covid-19 case after pupils returned in the past week.

Dixons Academies Trust, which runs 12 academies in Bradford and Leeds, has confirmed that some staff and students across the group are self-isolating.

The Department for Education has been contacted for comment.