A SCHOOL is preparing to return pupils to on-site teaching following a Covid-19 outbreak.

Sedbergh School’s Principal Andrew Fleck said the school is now looking ahead to the return of on-site teaching at the beginning of December.

Last week the school conducted testing of all its pupils and staff via a mobile testing unit to discover the true scale of the outbreak, which was first reported on November 14.

“I see no reason why that shouldn’t progress as planned, “said Mr Fleck.

“We haven’t seen any significant cases since the testing took place and so we’re optimistic we will return to regular teaching.

“Many schools have had to quarantine many pupils and sometimes several times.

“This is a single event during the course of the term, and we didn’t have a single case in the first half of term.”

Pupils who tested positive or were in a ‘bubble’ with a positive case returned home unless it was deemed inappropriate for them to do so.

Before returning to school pupils will be tested for Covid-19.

“Students will be tested either at home, or failing that, we have our testing unit on site for outstanding pupils who need to be tested who can’t get a test at home and our residential staff,” said Mr Fleck.

On Monday the Principal published the results of the mass testing of the entire school.

He reported that a total of 501 pupils had been tested, of those 151 pupils returned a positive result, this figure includes the 53 cases initially reported on November 16.

259 staff members have also been tested, of those 15 returned a positive test result, although none of the positive results were from last week’s mobile testing unit.

“All of the staff members who tested positive had done so beforehand,” said Mr Fleck.

“And were symptomatic and that’s really important because the difficulty is the asymptomatic cases of Covid-19.”

In preparation for the return of pupils the school has reviewed its current Covid-19 safety measures with Cumbria County Council and Public Health England.

“The conclusion that we have drawn collectively is there are no additional measures that we can practically take,” said Mr Fleck.

“It is a question of reinforcing the existing measures.

“The one variation I would add to that is our staff in non-teaching roles have been issued with additional PPE, despite the fact there is no evidence of transmission from pupil to staff member.”