FIFTY children and staff from Guiseley School have been hospitalised after being taken ill on a trip to Belgium and France.

The mystery illness struck in Zeebrugge as they were making their way home from the Continent. The 80 students and eight members of staff were on a First World War battlefields tour which is arranged as part of the history curriculum.

A Leeds City Council spokesman said the children and teachers were returning from their trip last night when 46 pupils and four staff became ill, requiring hospital treatment overnight in Zeebrugge.

Twenty-three of the children and all four of the staff were discharged from hospital today.

More of the pupils affected are expected to be released later today.

All of the students discharged from hospital and those unaffected will return home tonight. There has been speculation that the pupils and staff were struck down by food poisoning but today the council stressed the cause of the illness was still unclear.

Paul Clayton, Acting Co-Headteacher of Guiseley School, said: "Whilst travelling back from a school trip to Belgium and France, a number of our staff and children were taken ill. Both children and staff have been checked by doctors and while their conditions are not thought to be serious or contagious, as a precaution, they were kept in hospital and monitored overnight.

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"Our first priority is always the safety of our children and we are in close contact with parents and carers. Extra staff from the school have now arrived in Belgium to assist further, and working with the Belgian authorities, we are hopeful that the children will be returning home tomorrow. We will continue to work with public health to keep a close eye on all the children in the upcoming days."

Each year the school's history department takes up to 80 Year 11 students on a battlefields history trip, to visit the battlefields of Ypres and the Somme.

They visit a number of graves and memorials, including those of a number of men who once lived in Guiseley.

Belgian news reports said the children and staff became ill with food poisoning as their buses entered the ferry port.

They said those affected had been taken to seven hospitals in the area after an emergency plan was triggered. The Red Cross was also involved in the operation and those not affected were taken to a hostel.

Some of the children who were not affected but who were stranded overnight in Zeebrugge took to social media to update those at home.

One student apparently on the trip said on Twitter: "Such a scary night in Belgium."

Another posted: "THIS IS HELL #stranded"

A school spokesman said the visit was a Year 11 trip to the battlefields of the First World War in France and Belgium as part of their history studies.

He said it was "still unclear" what had caused the illness.

One parent waiting back in Leeds said he thought the school "had been really good in terms of communication" and was pleased more staff had been sent to Belgium.

He said he thought one or two children had begun to get diarrhoea early on the second day of the trip but things got much worse as they were returning home.

"My son's been discharged now and he's not been too worried but I'm sure some children and some parents will have been a lot more concerned," the parent said.

"I think one problem is that some parents have not known where their kids are as they've been spread around about seven hospitals."

But another parent described the communication from the school as "appalling".

The father said he got a phone call from his 15-year-old daughter at around 5pm on Monday, telling him that they would not be getting the overnight ferry as some of the Year 11 students were being sick.

He said: "They started dropping, every ten or 15 minutes another pupil was being sick.

"They were told they weren't allowed on and got a police escort to a hostel after waiting for a bus driver.

"I think the way they've handled it over there has been fine."

The parent said he received a call from the school at around 8pm and two texts on Tuesday, the latest saying that some students will return by ferry on Tuesday night.

The text, sent on Tuesday, said: "Half of those under observation will have been discharged by 2pm.

"At least one group will be returning on the overnight ferry.

"School will confirm this afternoon which students are fit to travel and will return today."

  • Last night the acting co-headteacher of the school, Paul Clayton, said 76 of the 80 students were heading back to the UK.