By Gavin Mackintosh-
A Northampton school has been closed until tomorrow, Tuesday, due to a spider outbreak.Malcolm Arnold Academy in Northampton sent its students home on Friday, September 17 after a false widow spider was sighted on the premises, forcing parents to improvise with respect to looking after them.
A false widow spider rarely attack humans, and are often sighted at this time of year, but are nowhere as harmful as as a black widow spider, which many people confuse them with. Their bite is compared to a wasp’s sting, but the school decided it was safer for children to be at home whilst they fumigate the school today.
Parents were sent a detailed letter, explaining the reason for the closure, while assuring them that normality will return on Tuesday.Some parents think the extra time at home away from school was unnecessary just for the sake of a few relatively harmless spiders, but some pupils, especially girls, were disturbed by their presence.
Parents were told that the school wanetd to avoid any risk to their students and staff, adivising them that pupils are expected to use the time at home wisely in reading up on their work, and staying abreast with their engaging curriculum.
The rated school helps students follow a broad curriculum, with a strong focus on English and maths, alongside subjects including music, drama, art, design and technology, PE, ethics and philosophy, geography, history, French and science.
Next door to the closed school, Malcolm Arnold Academy Prep school remained open, and unaffected by the spider outbreak a stones throw away from it.
A spokesperson for the school told The Eye Of Media.COM: “We have been in close contact with parents today to let them know that a small number of false widow spiders have been found in school.
“As a precaution students have been sent home whilst we bring in pest control to eliminate any risk ahead of all students returning to school on Tuesday”The safety and wellbeing of our students and staff will always be our top priority.”
The school also closed in 2018 for a spider sighting, but staff have assured parents that there is “no cause for concern”.