Did anything really tragic happen at your school?

[TattiePants]

I’ve spent today thinking about a murder that happened when I was at school over 30 years ago. I think it’s on my mind partly because it happened when I was sitting my GCSEs and DS is doing his now but also it’s been in the local news that another loosely connected child murder may finally be solved.

A boy from year 3 went missing and he was found murdered in a nearby derelict house. In the year prior to that, two other children had been killed in tragic circumstances so it was a really horrible time for the school community. Things got worse when a year 5 boy was arrested for the murder and spent months in custody, missing all his GCSEs. Many of us then had to give witness statements as we knew the arrested boy well. It took over 20 years for the actual murderer to be convicted and unfortunately he’d gone on to murder more boys from my school by then.

In all the years my DCs and friend’s DCs have been at school, they’ve (thankfully) never had anything like this. There’s been fights, teenage pregnancies, minor drug offences etc but nothing on this scale. Did anyone else have something really tragic happen when they were at school.

At secondary school we would go to a local pub that no one over the age of 18 ever drank in so the owner was just so glad it was busy (with 16 year olds). One weekend we heard that a man had been murdered on the street in a completely unprovoked stabbing. This was in a small town where that just doesn’t happen. Everyone at school was talking about it and there were posters everywhere looking for information. We still went to the pub the following weekend, despite a murderer being at large just round the corner 🤷🏼‍♀️ I went with a friend to lift money from the cash machine while we were out that night and there was a huge police presence in the town. We were so scared we ran all the way back to the pub in case the murderer was about, as you do. We got into the pub and a boy in our year was saying how terrible it was and hugged us when we said we’d been scared.

Long story short, a few months down the line he was arrested for the man’s murder 😐 he’s still in jail now

One of my best friends died of cancer. I still think of her every day. Every time I see a Boost chocolate bar I smile because she loved them. She was a beautiful girl inside and out, but also fiesty and cheeky. Everyone was absolutely gutted.

Plenty of teenage pregnancies, it was a Catholic school. The nuns were not amused. A girl died of Cystic Fibrosis. Her family now spend so much time fundraising and spreading awareness about the illness.

One of my school friends was a relative of a girl who was murdered. It happened when she was a baby so none of us could remember it happening but it was a very high profile case with a campaign for justice that went on until after we left school. The name had an association and there would be news stories about it every year as the family renewed calls for justice on the anniversary each year.

No. Shame on you actually!

Don’t try and guilt trip the OP and other posters who are sharing their stories.

It can be healthy to talk about past bad/tragic experiences. It’s better to discuss and share stories on an anonymous forum than bottling your thoughts and suppressing memories.

If you feel uncomfortable you don’t have to read the thread.

The first incident I can think of was when I was 11 years old. A dad (who was also our next-door neighbour's son) of one of our friends shot and killed their mum on a Sunday morning. My friend was 11 as well and his sister was 6 years old. The dad went to jail and they ended up being cared for by nearby family. It was so sad.

Another incident was a close family friend's dad popped out on Christmas eve to pick up a last-minute item that they forgot to get at the local supermarket and he was killed by a road rage driver.

And my cousin committed suicide when she was 14 years old because two boys were fighting over her. One was her boyfriend but there were rumours going around that she might have liked the other boy as well and they ended up fighting and she killed herself. It was so very very sad as those boys themselves were all just young themselves and they were both so very sad and struggling at the funeral.

One of my friends died from leukemia when we were 14. She was diagnosed during the Easter school holidays and was dead 7 weeks later.

One of my sisters nearly drowned on a school tour, they had gone to the beach and a number of them got dragged out by an undercurrent, fortunately another pupil caught her by her hair and dragged her to safety, unfortunately a girl drowned.

Another girl died after being hit by a train.

I wish I hadn't.

An 8 year old boy who had been perfectly healthy until then got up from his seat in the bus from school to home, went to tell the teacher he suddenly could not open his hand... and collapsed, dead on the spot. He had had a major stroke :(

Year 9 boy hosted a party. His parents told the other parents they would be home to supervise. But no. They weren’t normal boring parents. They were “cool parents”. They left the kids with a garage full of booze and buggered off to a hotel for the night. One 14 year old boy fell off the roof and died. I don’t believe any action was ever taken against “cool parents”. They should have both been jailed, in my opinion.

Girl killed in a sledding accident.

Just remembered something that really was tragic and fucking appalling.

A history teacher at our school. Him and his wife went through babysitters like water, I found out why when I babysat for them and after a few times he came back (she would wait in the car to drive me home) and he tried to kiss me and put his hand up my skirt. He was in his 40's, I was 16. I never baby sat for them again, I am sure his wife knew so I am fucking mad with both of them. She was a teacher too and would ask her students to babysit and they too would quit very quickly.

Then he was suspended a couple of years after I left after allegations from a student of sexual harrassment/assault. I completely believe her and I wish I had known sooner as I would have made a statement too (I only found out after he had been reinstated), but when it happened I didnt think anyone would believe me. She was moved to another school and he was reinstated but only to teach 6th form, because of course the way to deal with it was to keep him away from underage women, not actually put the rapey bastard in jail. He still lives in the village and tried to say hello to me occasionally, I think the filthy looks and the ignoring have worked as he actively avoids me now. The victim in question is a friend of a friend of my sisters and she wont come back here at all, and who can fucking blame her.

I am nearly 50. Thank God that although it still happens, it is taken far more seriously now.

A girl in my year committed suicide just before GCSEs.

A guy at my school was murdered by another pupil who I sat next to in class. A really quiet, sweet guy - a crime of passion they had called it. The boy who was killed was really popular and it had a huge effect.

A friend helped me through that time then sadly he also died in an accident a few months later. Terrible year.

A girl suffered an epileptic seizure at home and fell into a clothes horse, which closed on her neck. Her family found her dead.

A girl at our school was a local folklore, he behaviour was awful, drugs, stabbings, she'd turn up drunk at school just about any bad behaviour you can imagine.....found out a couple of years ago her mother had been letting men abuse and rape her for money from preschool age. Maybe even earlier.
That poor girls life was a tragedy and I feel such anger towards the teachers who labelled her as bad and could have done something to get to the bottom of what was happening to her. Even by 80s standards her treatment was dire.

I was in primary through the 90s.

There was a boy age 5 who was on a summer holiday with his family, he went missing and was found in the bottom of the hotel pool. I believe his swim shorts were light blue and he wasn't easily visible from the poolside. That's always stuck with me and my kids always wear bold swimwear colours that will stand out.
I was only a year or 2 older and still remember the September going back to school and the head teacher telling everyone what had happened during assembly.

Utterly horrific.

I also remember a male primary teacher who would have children stand by his desk for guided reading, and while the child was reading aloud he would put his hand up their skirt and stroke their legs. It didn't happen to me, but I have memories of seeing it happen to others and plenty of girls who were in my class recall it too.
Back then nobody would have dared speak out about it, at least now there's much more confidence in authorities to act.

A boy in my year 5 class died of tetanus after cutting his knee playing rugby on the school field.. That was 60 years ago. A girl from the same school, but in my younger sister's class was killed in a shark attack.

A group of senior girls decided to give school a miss one day and went out drinking. Was driving along a very major road and one of the girls was going to be sick, so she stuck her head out of the window and was decapated by a passing truck.

Another time one of the taller fellows came running out of the main building, and jumped up to clear the stairs down, however his head hit the timber beam which supported the overhead awning. I don't know if he survived or recovered enough, but I don't remember seeing him at school again, and I saw that one happen.

Same school but after I left the principal was badly beaten up by a group of boys.

One of my classmates was made to go through a pregnancy by her parents to ''teach her a lesson'' which I think is appalling. Never knew what happened to her or the baby but I think of her often. She was a lovely girl.

My 8 year old friend died, she was playing in a wheelbarrow with her brother, banged her head when she fell out, went to bed early and never woke up, we were told in assembly the next day. Her mum worked at the school as a dinner lady and carried on working there after it happened, every time I saw her all I would think about was my friend and how hard it must have been for her mum and her younger brother.

One for when my DC were at school, one of the teachers helped the class cheat in an exam and got struck off (was in the mainstream press) sadly took his own life. He was a popular teacher and everyone was saddened, parents and pupils alike.

With regards to counselling/MH support after tragic events - an incident happened at my secondary school which was really traumatic. I won't go into details just incase her family is on here but the school were fantastic with supporting pupils. Bereavement counsellors came to the school, we had assemblies about the incident, a memorial garden was set up and we had a memorial service about a month after it had happened. It certainly wasn't a case of 'get on with your work' like some posters have experienced. The whole school pulled together - in the face of such horror and brutality one of the main memories I have of that time is feeling 'protected' by the school.

This was in the mid 90s.

I think tragedies at school happen way more often than suspected and just don’t make the news.

-One of my friend from primary school hanged himself when playing one of those silly games that involve suffocation.

• Two kids in my class were abused and tortured by their parents, not only were their body covered in bruises but they were also my direct neighbors and you could hear the scream from my apartment. I went to their house once and there was literally no toys just a bare room. It’s said that the abuse was reported (if so nothing ever happened) but honestly I don’t think people did as much as they could when it comes to reporting and that it was partially because people didn’t like those kids very much as they were “troubled” and caused “chaos” in the neighborhood but honestly knowing what they were going through at home, no wonder. Still awfully mad at my mother for not reporting it.

-One of my good friend in high school was charged with accessory to murder for having cleaned up a murder scene. Well in reality it was all an accident, my friend’s friend was throwing a party at her house, and as her dad was present they decided to give him a few pills and alcohol to help him snooze off so they could party in peace, killing him instead. It’s my friend who found him when she went to wish him good night after the party was over, by then she had already cleaned up the glass and everything, hence her being accused of this. I honestly can’t imagine what it must have been like for her friend, accidentally killing her dad.

-My brother’s best friend also died of an overdose at a party, he had just turned 18 and it was heart-wrenching attending his funeral, definitely the death that impacted me most as I was much older and knew him well and it was horrifying to realize how stupid his death was and how it could have been avoided had he known to not take the pill.

Definitely plenty more horrifying stories in my school years from or involving people less close to me but I am not sure there is even a school in the country that would be free of tragedy (big &/or small!)

At primary school a girl in my class was crossing a busy road with her family to go sledging. A car lost control and hit her and she died on the way to hospital.
I remember the emotion in our teachers face and voice when she told the class, it was awful.
The family moved back north afterwards but the girl was buried locally. I still visit her grave 35 years on and think of her and her family.