RIDGEWOOD High School in Wollaston has cancelled its certificate collection evening amid ongoing concerns over the new coronavirus variant.

Year 11 leavers had been due to collect their GCSE certificates on Tuesday November 30 but the event has been cancelled as worries grow over the new Omicron variant of Covid-19 which has made its way to Britain after first being detected in South Africa.

A statement on the Park Road West school's Twitter feed said today: "Due to the ongoing public health situation, as part of our continued commitment to maintain a safe environment in school for our pupils and staff and to help to reduce the risk of transmission of coronavirus both in school and in our local community, it is with regret that we have decided to cancel our planned certificate collection evening, due to take place on Tuesday November 30.

"Certificates will instead be posted out to students' home addresses over the next few days.

"We are sorry that we are unable to welcome our former students back to Ridgewood this week as planned, however we hope you will support our decision."