APPLETON ACADEMY has become the sixth school in the Bradford district to shut due to an outbreak of norovirus in the space of less than a week.

The all-through school for pupils aged from 3 to 19, which is in Wyke, announced on Monday that it would be closed for two days.

In a statement, Appleton Academy said, "The school will be closed on Tuesday 3 and Wednesday 4 December to allow a deep clean to be undertaken due to an extremely high number of cases of the winter vomiting bug amongst students and staff. We are very sorry for the inconvenience this decision will cause but we will re-open as normal on Thursday 5 December."

Beckfoot Oakbank, Horton Park Primary, Beechcliffe Special School, Canterbury Nursery School and Centre for Children and Parkside School all had to close their doors recently because of norovirus.

Norovirus - also called the winter vomiting bug - is described by NHS.uk as "a stomach bug that causes vomiting and diarrhoea. It can be very unpleasant, but usually goes away in about 2 days."

Norovirus can spread very easily, hence why whole schools have been forced to close due to the bug.

The advice for anyone affected with the illness is to stay isolated, avoid A&E or GPs as this may spread the virus, drink regularly, take age-appropriate paracetamol and to carry out regular hand washing.

In a letter sent to parents of pupils at the school, the Academy's headteacher, Ms. Helen Jones, said, "A number of schools across Bradford, and nationally, have had to close due to the winter vomiting bug. We in school have been trying to contain an outbreak of the bug for the last couple of weeks and recently wrote to parents of primary children, who had been particularly affected by the bug, to advise that this was the case.

"Unfortunately, at the end of last week and the start of this week, the bug has accelerated and overtaken our efforts to stay on top of it."

"For this reason we have made the decision to close the school. I appreciate that this will cause inconvenience to many of you and I am extremely sorry that this is the case.

"The intention is that the Academy will re-open as normal on Thursday 5 December and our staff and cleaning team will be working hard during Tuesday and Wednesday to ensure that the deep clean is completed."

A parent of a pupil at the school, speaking to the Telegraph & Argus, said: "I am fully supportive of the closure as health is more important than attendance.

"I work as a school health worker, in a neighbouring council academy school and have had to take unpaid leave to look after my son.

"Yes, it can cause difficulty for childcare purposes, however, Public Health will have been involved and advised on how to try and overcome the virus."