A TOP public school is continuing to quarantine a number of its Far East students until fears over the Sars virus subside.

Polam Hall, in Darlington, has confirmed that a number of students and staff who were among the last to arrive back after Easter from Sars affected Hong Kong, remain in isolation.

Twelve girls and two staff who arrived back in the UK on Sunday, April 27, are continuing to stay away from school for at least ten days and will not go back until Thursday at the latest.

Polam Hall says that the action taken has been appropriate in the circumstances and it would not have done things differently.

A spokeswoman for the school said: "We are still monitoring the situation and it is constantly under review."

Elsewhere, most independent schools in the region are getting back to normal, having taken precautionary measures to combat the disease.

James Darley, a spokesman for Roman Catholic Ampleforth School, in North Yorkshire, said twice-daily checks for students returning from the Far East were brought to an end last Friday.

About 28 children who were being kept away by worried parents from the Ampleforth complex have now returned.

Michael Featherstone, headteacher at Barnard Castle School, County Durham, said that none of its foreign students were now expected to return to the Far East until September at the earliest.

Despite health advice to the contrary, a number of independent schools quarantined or placed a ten-day buffer on students from the Far East.

The Health Protection Agency has said that no preventative measures need to be taken by schools unless anyone returning shows symptoms of the disease.