Hundreds of school children in Widnes and Runcorn are still self-isolating and teachers are “feeling the strain” of having to catch up on missed lessons.

Halton councillors heard on Monday evening that the borough’s teachers were facing a “tall order” of managing safety and remote learning while also trying to catch up on lessons that pupils have missed while self-isolating.

One council officer said the stress of the current situation was even leading some headteachers to “consider their position”, while schools could face budget problems thanks to having to use more supply teachers to fill in for self-isolating staff.

The comments were made in a briefing to members of Halton Council’s Children, Young People and Families Policy and Performance Board on Monday evening.

On Monday, the committee heard, there were 725 Halton students self-isolating due to either testing positive for Covid-19 or coming into contact with a case.

Council strategic director Mil Vasic said the figure “has come down a lot” but there were still some large groups from secondary schools self-isolating.

He said: “What I would say about that figure is at the height, what you could call the height of the second wave, which was around September 28, we had 2,200 children who were self-isolating.

“There’s still some large year groups from secondaries in that figure, but the tendency for us now is to get small bubbles from schools, maybe 25 or 30 [pupils].”

But some schools have been hit harder than others. Ann McIntyre, the council’s operational director for education, said one Year 11 group had been in school for only three weeks so far this term thanks to repeated cases of Covid-19.

Ms McIntyre said another school had asked the government for 238 laptops to help deprived pupils access remote teaching while in isolation, but the school received only 38.

She said: “They are being asked to do remote learning with one hand tied behind their back.”

In response to a question about teacher morale, Mr Vasic said: “I think they are feeling the strain as most people are.

“Different schools have highlights and lowlights, and for some schools they will have particular issues when they have a member of staff off.

“As with most people, they are tired of it all probably and it’s a difficult situation to manage. Trying to manage safety compliance and then trying to teach and how do you catch up the several months that children have missed is a tall order.”

He added: “They are concerned about how, given where we are, how you can manage catch-up.”

Ms McIntyre said: “The school leaders are feeling a lot of stress.

“I know a number of headteachers have said they will be considering their position after this.”