A Kent head teacher says his school is experiencing "unprecedented" staff sickness - and has urged parents to help slow the spread of Covid.

Paul Pollard, head of Simon Langton Girls' Grammar School in Canterbury, says some former staff have come out of retirement to lend a hand as huge swathes of his workforce is off sick.

He says the disruption is likely to last into the new year.

It comes after Canterbury last week recorded its highest daily number of Covid cases this year, while rates are highest amongst school-aged children.

Mr Pollard said: "The past fortnight, and the past week in particular, have seen us experiencing unprecedented levels of staff absence in school.

"It has not been unusual for us to have 20+ individuals absent each day, split roughly 50/50 between teaching and admin staff.

"At no point since March 2019 have we experienced such high levels of absence, and the impact this is having on levels of cover and the provision of usual functions is significant."

Mr Pollard says some recently retired staff and exam invigilators have come back to help out, while his usual staff have been "magnificent" in covering for absent colleagues.

But he says agency support has been "almost impossible to secure", with the situation likely to remain the same for January.

Addressing parents, he said: "We are endeavouring to keep things going as close to usual as possible, but please be aware that your child, if they haven’t already, is likely to have some ongoing disruption to their lessons before the end of term.

"It would be a fair assumption to believe that this will continue next term and throughout the winter months."

Langton Girls is not the only Kent school suffering due to staff sickeness.

On Monday, one of Kent's biggest secondary schools - The Oasis Academy on the Isle of Sheppey - had to tell its Year 7 pupils to stay at home due to staff shortages.

Boris Johnson yesterday revealed tougher coronavirus restrictions are being imposed under the government's 'Plan B' - in response to rising Covid cases and the spread of the Omicron variant.

Yesterday afternoon, the UK Health and Security Agency confirmed that there are a “small number” of confirmed cases of Omicron - which is said to be more transmissible than the Delta strain - in Kent and Medway.

Recent figures show 179 new cases were recorded in the Canterbury district on November 29 - the biggest tally in a single day in 2021.

Almost 1,000 people tested positive in the week up to December 2.

No cases were recorded among those aged 80 and over, while almost half of all the 941 cases were in the 0-19 age group.

Mr Pollard has urged parents to help reduce the spread of Covid through school staff and pupils, by ensuring children continue taking regular lateral flow tests.

He added: "Should they display any symptoms, they must take a PCR test - even if they have had a negative LFT - and not come into school until the result of this test is known.

"Thank you for your support and understanding in this matter."