{"id":201314,"date":"2025-06-21T01:32:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-21T01:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/201314\/"},"modified":"2025-06-21T01:32:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-21T01:32:10","slug":"large-solihull-school-shuts-suddenly-as-sickness-bug-sweeps-through-venue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/201314\/","title":{"rendered":"Large Solihull school shuts suddenly as sickness bug sweeps through venue"},"content":{"rendered":"

A number of pupils and staff have been said to be suffering from sickness and diarrhoea in recent days forcing the school to shut for a ‘deep clean’\"GoogleSt Peter’s Catholic School in Whitefields Road, Solihull had to shut suddenly on Friday after health officers responded to a sickness bug hitting pupils and staff and ordered a ‘deep clean'(Image: Google)<\/p>\n

A secondary school in Solihull had to shut at lunchtime after a sickness bug swept through the school affecting its students.<\/p>\n

St Peter\u2019s Catholic School in Whitefields Road had to contact parents and carers on Friday (June 20) to say the school was being shut and they needed to collect their children.<\/p>\n

The school said it was contacted by public health \u2013 now known as UK Health Security Agency \u2013 on Thursday (June 19) regarding a \u2018sickness bug\u2019.<\/p>\n

It said it was advised to close the school immediately and carry out a deep clean.<\/p>\n

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The Solihull <\/a>school, which has around 1,300 pupils and 200 in sixth form, said it was experiencing a \u2018high number of pupil sickness\u2019.<\/p>\n

Both pupils and staff were said to be suffering from vomiting and diarrhoea symptoms \u2018over the last few days\u2019.<\/p>\n

The mystery bug was said to possibly be norovirus \u2013 also known as the \u2018winter sickness bug\u2019 but known to occur throughout the year.<\/p>\n

The school was effectively told to shut and clean the site straight away with children being sent home hours early at 1pm.<\/p>\n

By shutting the school on Friday it would then allow for the cleaning operation and for the site to be clear for 48 hours for \u2018decontamination\u2019.<\/p>\n

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Headteacher, Stuart Shelton, said: \u201cFollowing the letter from Public Heath yesterday regarding a sickness bug, we have continued to experience a high number of pupil sickness.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been advised to conduct a thorough deep clean of the school this afternoon, enabling 48 hours clear onsite for decontamination. As a result, pupils will be dismissed from school at 1.00pm.<\/p>\n

\u201cLunch will be provided to all pupils before leaving.<\/p>\n

\u201cPupils who are offsite at an engineering or PE event will return as planned but will not be able to enter the building.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there are any issues with any pupils unable to get home safely at 1.00pm, please call the school office.\u201d<\/p>\n

Get the latest BirminghamLive news direct to your inbox<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

In a separate letter parents were told any child suffering from sickness or diarrhoea should stay off school and not return for 48 hours after those symptoms stop.<\/p>\n

Pupils and staff were told they would be allowed to return on Monday (June 23), provided they followed the guidance if they have been ill.<\/p>\n

To prevent the spread of the infection pupils were told: “Wash hands with soap and warm water after going to the toilet.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd before preparing or eating food as a minimum. People with symptoms should also avoid preparing food for others, to reduce risk of infection spreading.\u201d<\/p>\n

Solihull<\/a> Borough Council said it was not responsible for the school as it was in an academy trust.<\/p>\n

Our Lady and All Saints Catholic Multi Academy Company said it did not have anyone available on Friday (June 20) afternoon to comment.<\/p>\n

And UKHSA West Midlands has also yet to respond to the incident.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A number of pupils and staff have been said to be suffering from sickness and diarrhoea in recent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201315,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[855,748,2266,393,4884,2671,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-201314","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-birmingham","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-education","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-solihull","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201314\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}