Coronavirus: Parent pulls son out of Portsmouth school after five pupils self-isolate after Italy trip

Matt Hibbard made the drastic decision after finding out that pupils at Springfield School in Central Road, Drayton, had self-isolated after returning from a school skiing trip over the half-term break.

The 36-year-old Uber driver from Paulsgrove said that he would be keeping his son off school until at least next week and claims other parents have also kept their children at home.

He said: ‘The first time I heard about it was on Tuesday night from a friend who has nothing to do with the school.

‘She said the kids from Springfield had come back from a ski trip to Italy and that is the first I had heard about it. She said that the school had emailed parents, but I didn’t get anything.

‘I kept my son off school (on Thursday) because of the way the school has handled it.

‘He is 12 and is in Year 7. I told them I would be keeping him off for at least the next two days.

‘It is an unauthorised absence but we just had to take it. I’m not the only one who has done it. I know a couple other parents who have done it too.’

Springfield School announced on Thursday that five pupils who had returned from the ski trip to Champoluc were in self-isolation.

The current guidance from Public Health England is that anyone who has visited Northern Italy and shows respiratory symptoms, such as coughing, should self-isolate for 14 days.

However Mr Hibbard, who also has a daughter in college, has criticised Springfield for letting any of the pupils who went on the ski trip return to school.

He said: ‘They could easily caught it. There’s a very huge risk they could have caught it in such a busy place. Even if they haven’t been to the quarantine zones.’

Champoluc is in the province of Aosta Valley and is more than 200km away from Lombardy, the region where 10 towns have been quarantined, and 400km from Veneto, which has has quarantines in place.

Sara Spivey, Springfield School headteacher, said: ‘The school has been updating families on the government's advice and the school's response to Coronavirus via its newsfeed and website.

‘This has included information regarding the skiing trip to Champoluc and the related advice from Public Health England.

‘It has also included reminders of the simple steps that the NHS is recommending that we should all be taking to prevent the spread of infections such as colds, flu and coronavirus.

‘The advice from Public Health England for participants in the skiing trip remains unchanged.

‘Public Health England have advised that any of the trip participants who experience respiratory symptoms (cough, shortness of breath, fever) should self-isolate and call NHS 111 for advice.

‘Other trip participants (who have no respiratory symptoms) have been advised that they are able to attend school as normal.

‘The school remains open as usual for pupils.

‘Like all schools, we are monitoring the situation closely. If, for any reason, the advice from the Government or Public Health England changes, we will update the school community accordingly.’