By Carolyn Quek & Leow Si Wan

THE three siblings aged 16, 14 and eight returned from their holiday in England and Scotland yesterday afternoon, with a few days to go before school reopens on Monday.

But they will now have to stay home for a week, and go back to school only next Thursday .

The reason: Britain is affected by H1N1 flu, and all students and teachers returning from affected areas this week will have to stay home for seven days.

The siblings' father, who declined to be named, said the family did not know about the new precautionary measures for schools, announced on Tuesday.

'We tried looking for information on the Internet, but did not find anything,' he said.

His eldest son was due to take common tests at his junior college next week.

'I hope the school will make arrangements for him to take the exams,' he said.

The younger children are in Secondary 2 and Primary 3.

Most of the 19 Singaporean parents interviewed at Changi Airport yesterday, fresh from vacations in flu-affected countries, were surprised to learn that their children will have to stay away from school for seven days.

Most felt it should not cause much disruption to the family routine. Some have children old enough to take care of themselves; others can entrust them to grandparents, maids or stay-at-home spouses.

But those with children taking major examinations this year were concerned about missing out on a few days of lessons next week.

Ms Kim Foo, 44, whose 12-year-old son is taking his Primary School Leaving Examinations this year, said she had booked their trip to Hong Kong at the last minute.

'This is an important year for him. If I had known about this earlier, I would have cancelled our trip,' she said.

Chinese-language teacher Chan Hui Qing, who came back from Manila with her 13-year-old son, felt the same. 'It is better to go back to school as soon as possible to study,' she said.

Schools have some idea of how many students and teachers would have to stay home, as they had to fill travel declarations before the June holidays started.

Teachers have started calling their students to verify their travel history and to make arrangements for home-based study.

Checks showed that at Yusof Ishak Secondary only three students are likely to miss school next week, whereas at Nan Hua Primary, the number is 25.

Ms Lillian Lo, a sales administrator, was not too worried about her 14-year-old missing classes because it will be for less than a week.

The children interviewed said they were familiar with e-learning, though most preferred to be with their friends.

One could not help yelping with joy at the news of having to stay home for seven days.

Elisha Tan, facing the Secondary 4 preliminary examinations, said: 'The break will give me more time to prepare for my prelims!'

This article was first published in The Straits Times.