A community north of Auckland is reeling from widespread sickness that has seen at least one school shut its doors due to illness among pupils and large numbers of teaching staff.

Parents and members of the Mangawhai Beach School community were told last week to keep their children home as 11 teachers were off sick and they were unable to get relievers in.

Cleaners had been through to clean “thoroughly” over the weekend, a school notice said.

‘Crippling our community’

“It is crippling [our] community,” a concerned parent told the Herald.

The school declined to comment. However, a notice was posted on its Facebook page about a scheduled book character parade that was due to happen last Friday.

“Book Character Parade is cancelled ... due to schoolwide sickness.”

Another message from the school has been posted today.

“We want to express our sincere gratitude for your continued support over the last few weeks. Keeping your children at home when they’re unwell has been a huge help in managing sickness at school.

“We have our fingers crossed that we’re now over the worst of it and things are beginning to return to normal.”

The school said it had received a number of phone calls from concerned parents and wanted to clarify that the Ministry of Education had not closed the school.

Relief teachers were being brought in to cover staff members off sick. In some cases, children were being placed into split classes.

They had not encountered any notifiable diseases, the school said.

“The illnesses we are currently seeing, based on feedback from parents and doctors, are common winter ailments and influenza A and B.”

Mangawhai Beach School sent a notice to parents to keep children home after 11 teachers were struck down with the tummy bug.

Parents were told that students would be sent home if they arrive to school sick or return to school too soon after an illness.

“For vomiting, there is a 48-hour stand-down period before a student can return to school.

“We understand that these are challenging times and your co-operation has been invaluable,” the notice said.

Meanwhile, the parent who spoke to the paper said the school had sent out a newsletter to explain the situation and that all children would still be marked as present.

The parent described the illness as a “very severe stomach bug” that had ripped through the community for up to two months, she said.

Members of her family – including a child at Mangawhai Beach School – had caught the bug in the past few weeks.

“It causes fevers, loss of appetite, not wanting fluids and when they stand, they have to lie down.

“My [young relative] went down with it and it was very scary. She did not eat for six [days] and her weight plummeted ... she had a whole week off school.

“I just about cried when she got out the bath last week – I could see her hip bone sticking out,” the parent said, becoming emotional.

The parent said they were very surprised that they had not heard of any news or alerts from public health authorities, as they knew of many families in the Mangawhai area being hit by the illness.

“It’s affecting everybody – adults and kids. And it’s rife. I’d say it has been going for about six to eight weeks.”

Te Whatu Ora has been approached for comment.