A headteacher of a Banbury primary school has accused people of "scaremongering" after reports online of nearly 70 children being absent with scarlet fever.

Posts on Facebook last night suggested that large amounts of children at Queensway Primary School had been struck down with the bacterial illness.

But the school have said that they have confirmed cases from between six families at the moment, with ther number of children affected likely to be between six and eight.

Headteacher Sarah Jakeman said: "These posts are scaremongering families. This whole thing has been blown out of proportion.

"The symptoms are similar to other viruses going around but we have notified parents about the problem.

"We have sought information from Public Health England about what parents should if they think their child has the symptoms."

She added that the school would have to have a "massive" number of cases before they would thinking about closing temporarily.

Banbury mother Wanda Alexander, who has children at the school, said: "All the parents recieved a letter yesterday and a text this morning to say there were three confirmed cases.

"There has been a lot of children off school but there has also been a lot of bugs going round so people may have got confused between illnesses."

Scarlet fever causes a distinctive pink-red rash, usually on children.

Initial symptoms usually include a sore throat, headache and a high temperature (38.3C/101F or above), flushed cheeks and a swollen tongue.