More than 400 students are currently self-isolating after a total of four positive cases of coronavirus were identified at a secondary school in Amesbury.

Year 7s and Year 8s at The Stonehenge School have been sent home for 10 days after four lateral flow tests came back positive.

Year 8 were the first group to be sent home on Friday March 12 after two cases were found during rapid testing.

This resulted in 192 children being asked to go home.

Read more: Two pupils test positive for Covid at The Stonehenge School

Two days later, parents were told that all 215 children in Year 7 also had to self-isolate after two pupils in that year group tested positive.

A number of parents criticised the move to send the entire year bubbles home for such a small number of cases, calling the decision "crazy" and "absolutely ridiculous".

However, Wiltshire Council's public health team said the school "acted correctly in accordance with all the evidence and public health advice".

Read more: School's actions were 'absolutely appropriate'

Whenever a test comes back positive, the individual case is risk assessed, the council said, adding that "sometimes it is necessary for a whole year bubble to self-isolate if it cannot be confirmed that pupils in a year bubble did not come in to close contact with the positive case". 

The council also reiterated that a negative test result is only valid at that point in time, meaning that children could test negative even though they are incubating the virus.

According to the local authority, The Stonehenge School is the only educational setting in the Wiltshire Council area where entire year bubbles have been sent home due to positive lateral flow tests.

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