A school in the West Midlands was forced to close last week while a deep clean was undertaken after a number of staff and pupils were struck by illness.

Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School, off Old Oscott Hill in Kingstanding, was closed on Friday to ‘stop the spread’ of the undisclosed virus.

The school, which has nearly 750 pupils aged from 11-16 was due to reopen early this week.

A letter by headteacher, Robert Swanwick, on the school’s main website read: “As you may know, we have been experiencing pupil and staff absence this week due to illness, which has resulted in school closing for some year groups.

“We have taken the difficult decision to close the whole school tomorrow, Friday 3rd May 2024, so that a deep clean can be carried out at school.

“We need to stop the spread of this virus that is affecting our school community, especially for our Year 11 pupils who will be starting their public examinations next week.”

The letter went on to say pupils’ knowledge books would be uploaded to Google Classroom to enable independent working.

“This decision has not been taken lightly and we apologise for any inconvenience caused,” it stated.

“We will be open as normal on Tuesday 7th May following the Bank Holiday, and look forward to seeing all of our pupils then.”

A number of parents had posted their children had fallen sick on a local neighbourhood Facebook site.