A HEADTEACHER was among the victims in a new outbreak of swine flu which struck down a quarter of her school’s pupils.

An outbreak of the virus at Beechcroft St Paul’s Primary School in Weymouth saw pupils ‘dropping every 10 minutes’ with sickness, nausea and headaches.

Around 55 children out of the school’s roll-call of 207 caught the flu, as did headteacher Sarah Sprague.

Now pupils are on the road to recovery, although experts warn that a second wave of swine flu is expected nationally over the coming months.

Mrs Sprague said: “During the week before half-term we had two classes down to half classes.

“We probably had about 55 off just with swine flu - a quarter of our school population of 207.”

“That week pupils were literally dropping every 10 minutes, feeling sick and nauseous.

“It was undoubtedly swine flu and we had lots of letters from parents saying their doctors had confirmed it.”

She added: “It was concerning to have children being poorly but at that point the staff were sticking it out and weren’t getting it, so we were fine to stay open, albeit with a lot smaller classes.

“I think if it hadn’t been for half-term the school governors would have considered closing the school to stop it spreading.”

Mrs Sprague said her own experience of the virus lasted for seven days and was ‘horrendous’.

She said: “I know why it’s called swine flu, because it’s an absolute pig. It completely debilitates you, I couldn’t get up – I felt nauseous, sick and like I was going to collapse.

“It would have been impossible for me to work and I didn’t want to put others at risk.

“It took a good week to recover and even after that you’re weak, it drains you completely.”

Beechcroft school continues to follow the swine flu advice of the authorities, asking parents to keep their children out of school for 48 hours if they become poorly.

Antiseptic hand gels were installed in all classrooms after the first few pupils suffered the virus and continue to be used.

At Weymouth’s Holy Trinity Infant School in Cross Road, ‘a dozen pupils and a couple of staff members’ were off with swine flu prior to last week’s half-term.

Headteacher Melanie Austin, of Broadmayne First School, near Dorchester, and Peter Roe, spokesman for the Thomas Hardye School in Dorchester, said they had not had a ‘noticeable’ amount of swine flu cases.

THERE were an estimated 14,000 cases of swine flu in Dorset last month, according to a county council report.

The report comes ahead of the council’s cabinet meeting today and warns that recent cases showed a 50 per cent increase over the previous week, with schoolchildren being most affected.

It also warned that if ‘a significant proportion of Dorset’s population is affected by the virus’, it could impact on vulnerable sections of the community, particularly if illness leaves the council and other public service providers short-staffed.

The second wave of swine flu, which was predicted, is expected to be ‘longer but milder’ than the summer outbreak, a Dorset Primary Care Trust (PCT) spokesman said today.

Around 115 people of Dorset’s 400,000 population were recorded by GPs as having symptoms for the week of October 15 to 21, said Claire Warner, director of communications at the Dorset PCT.

She said: “The South West has lower levels of swine flu than other parts of the country.

“Dorset had 28.9 per 100,000 of the population coming into GPs with symptoms for the week of October 15 to 21.

“This compares to 47.6 per 100,000 in Plymouth, and Swindon had 48 per 100,000.”