A CUPAR nursery school is the latest educational establishment in Fife to be temporarily closed due to an outbreak of norovirus.
Parents became aware there was a problem at Westfield Nursery yesterday morning when Fife Council issued a brief statement on Fife Direct at 9am, stating that the nursery would be “closed until further notice due to health and safety”.
Queried by The Courier, it was later confirmed by the council that norovirus more commonly known as the winter vomiting bug was the cause.
John McLaughlin, area education officer, yesterday said: “Over the course of the past week the nursery has had a number of pupils off due to the norovirus. However, the situation escalated yesterday when a significant proportion of pupils and several staff members were absent.
“The nursery was not able to open today, primarily due to staff absence.
“An enhanced cleaning was carried out yesterday to cover the main classrooms affected, as well as all the toilets. As a precaution a deep clean is to be carried out over the weekend to allow for the 24 hours the process normally takes to complete.
“The staffing absence levels will be checked late on Sunday afternoon and, numbers permitting, the nursery will reopen on Monday morning.
“The health and safety of our children and staff is paramount and our schools and nurseries are cleaned daily. The deep clean which the nursery has undergone is a specialist, all encompassing, anti-bacterial treatment to kill off any residual bacteria.”
Last week norovirus resulted in the temporary closure of Pittencrieff Primary in Dunfermline.
There have been 2,630 confirmed reports of norovirus in the UK so far this season but for every reported case there are likely to be a further 288 unreported sufferers, the Health Protection Agency has said.
malexander@thecourier.co.uk