THREE HUNDRED children were sent home from school today after a five-year-old boy fell ill with meningitis.

St Mark's C of E Primary, in Brighton, decided to closeafter being alerted by the boy's father early this morning.

The closure came as a Sussex University student died of the illness.

French student Ludovic Blot, 20, had been in a critical condition at the Royal Sussex County Hospital since January 28. His mother was at his bedside when he died.

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Parents arriving at the gates of St Mark's with their children were advised that all lessons had been cancelled.

Head teacher Steve Gillham spoke to many of the families personally. He also placed a notice on the school door alerting parents to the situation.

Parents were later telephoned and asked to attend the school this afternoon where the health authority planned to hand out information and advice.

The boy is being treated at Brighton's Royal Alexandra Children's Hospital and is said to be in a stable condition.

The latest case takes the total number of people struck with the bug in Sussex to a record ten so far this year.

Mr Gillham said: "Our thoughts are with the boy and his parents. This is a very upsetting thing to happen to any head teacher. There didn't appear to be any sign that the boy was ill while he was in school yesterday.

"You do this job because you care about children and it is very distressing when one of them has such a serious illness."

Mr Gillham is angry he found out about the boy's illness from his father rather than the health authority.

He said: "Meningitis can kill and with children you can't afford to take any risks.

"I believe the safest course of action was to send the children home this morning and, as head teacher of the school, I should have known about this from an official source.

"There should be some kind of early warning system in place so the authorities could have contacted me at home to tell me what happened as soon as the boy was diagnosed."

He hopes to reopen the school as normal tomorrow.

ntibiotics

Today's news comes just a day after experts, dealing with an outbreak in South Wales, revealed the country is in the grip of a 50-year meningitis peak.

Parent Phillip Cayondo, of Maresfield Road, Brighton, has two children at St Mark's - Kelly, five, and Liam, four.

He said: "I saw parents walking away from the school with their children. I went into the school and a teacher told me there had been a meningitis outbreak in the infants."

Madeline Mayhew, spokesman for East Sussex, Brighton and Hove Health Authority, said doctors believe the boy is suffering from meningococcal septicaemia.

She said: "The boy and his family would have been given antibiotics straight away. The only risk is to those people who came into very close contact with him.

"All the normal procedures have been followed and parents will be informed of any risk."

Dr Angela Iversen, consultant in communicable disease control for the health authority, liaised with the school and the council to find the best way of informing parents.

Aspokesman for Brighton and Hove Council said other schools near St Mark's had also been told.

Aspokesman for the Diocese of Chichester said: "The head teacher is dealing with this appropriately and we have every confidence in him."

St Mark's was visited by Prince Charles last October. He spent more than an hour talking to staff and children.

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