The Portsmouth Academy school in Fratton tell children to stay home due to staff shortages

The Portsmouth Academy in St Mary's Road, Fratton, sent out a letter to parents this week. The letter said that due to a lack of available staff, they are closing the school to Year 10 pupils. The issue happened on Thursday, February 1, and is ongoing as of Friday, February 2.

The Year 10 students have been forced to stay at home with distance learning measures put into place. A spokesperson for the Academy said: “A significant number of staff have been off sick due to seasonal illnesses so we have made the difficult but necessary decision for a small number of year groups to learn from home for several days this week.

"This has ensured safe staffing levels for the majority of students able to remain in school. We have excellent remote learning in place so that students can learn very effectively from home but of course will welcome back all students to school very soon. We thank our community for their support.”