A junior school which threatened to throw away its pupil's PE kits if not collected has backed down after parents labelled the decision "utterly disgraceful".

St Margaret's C of E Junior School in Rainham told parents yesterday it was conducting a deep clean of the building, amid concerns over the coronavirus.

To allow for this it said all PE kits and other belongings would need to be collected from the premises.

In an original letter sent to parents head teacher Mrs Pattenden said: "Kits will be on the playground just inside the large green gate between 3.00pm - 4.00pm on Tuesday 24 and Wednesday 25 March.

"Due to the current climate, if they are not collected on these two days, unfortunately they will need to be disposed."

Parents expressed dismay given the Prime Minister's advice to stay-at-home, putting the country into lockdown last night.

Emma Curzon, 36, whose son attends the school, believes the instruction poses a risk to public health, adding the threat to "dump" their belongings was "utterly disgraceful".

"Some parents wont be able to afford new PE kits especially being out of work."

She said: "Despite lasts night's message from the government, the school have sent another email out today to confirm they are disregarding the government advice and still expect parents to collect their children's belongings.

"These actions of the school will force people out of their homes, create a gathering of people which is now against the law and cause upset."

The mum also expressed concerns for those parents who won't be able to afford new PE kits.

Today the school sent out another email to tell parents the collection window would be reduced to 3pm.

But has since followed up to clarify it will now be arranging for all uncollected kits to be bagged and stored.

A spokesperson said: "Our original message was very clear that it is was optional. We were removing kits to deep clean the school.

"Kits were spread outside and parents/carers were given the option to collect."

The school said they had reconsidered the wording of "disposal" in light of concerns raised by parents.

A further statement read: "Thank you to those parents who, during their daily exercise have chosen to collect their child's kits.

"As there are now far fewer, any named kits remaining at the end of the day will be bagged individually and put into storage until school is open.

"When school reopens, you can collect your child's kit in order to put it through a hot wash as advised.

"We do thank you for your continued support at this very difficult time."

They added parents had been "very sensitive and sensible" in observing the government's social distancing guidelines, which was monitored by staff this morning.

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