St Anne’s Catholic School in Southampton, Hampshire, is closed today, Monday 23 March 2026, following a significant computer system failure. The school has asked families to share the news with each other because the technical issues have made it impossible for staff to send out emails to parents directly. Families are being forced to find emergency childcare at short notice while the school works to fix the problem.
The closure affects approximately 1,239 students at the Carlton Road site, which serves girls aged 11 to 16 and a co-educational sixth form. Southampton City Council published the closure notice at 3:43 pm on Sunday to alert the community. The local authority is relying on word-of-mouth to ensure all affected households are aware that the building is shut to all pupils.
St Anne’s Catholic School was first established in 1904 and is currently under the trusteeship of the La Sainte Union Sisters. While the school has maintained high ratings in recent years, it is now part of a growing trend of schools facing technical disruptions. A government study from 2024 showed that 71 per cent of secondary schools in the country had dealt with a computer security attack in the previous year.
This incident follows other similar cases across the country, such as a school in Warwickshire that had to close for two weeks in January 2026 after a system hack. Officials have not yet confirmed when the computer systems at the Southampton school will be restored or when students will be able to return to their lessons.
About this article: This story was put together with the help of AI tools and checked by a real person on our team. We're a small crew trying to cover as much of the UK as we can on a limited budget. We're getting better every day - but we're not perfect yet. If something looks off, let us know. You're part of the process.
