The head of a primary school, which had to send pupils home because of a shortage of teachers, has warned it was just the tip of the iceberg.

Brian Davis, at Frobisher Primary and Nursery in Jaywick, had to take emergency measures when five staff called in sick.

He asked parents to take children home, if they could, as they arrived at school yesterday and made a plea for them to keep youngsters in three classes home today (Tuesday).

"We did not close the school but with great co-operation and understanding from parents we got through," he said.

But he warned there was no spare room anywhere and no supply teachers to cover. Mr Davis said he made about ten calls on Sunday night without being able to find one person to come in and help ease the crisis.

He has also contacted agencies which normally have plenty of people on their books, but they were also unable to help.

He added Frobisher runs a scheme whereby children with a 100 per cent attendance record were taken to McDonalds for a meal.

"I had youngsters reluctant to go home yesterday because they thought it would spoil their record but we assured them this would not count against them," he said. "It just shows how deep this is going at the moment."

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.