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.

Also, without wanting to derail, it seems important to mention that there is use of the term ‘committed suicide’ on this thread, an outdated term from the days when suicide was a crime.

‘Died by suicide’, ‘took/ended their life’ are more appropriate.

Huh?

A year 11 pupil drowned in a lake after taking out a boat (non swimmer) and refusing to wear a life jacket

At the secondary school my mum taught at, a boy on a moped tried to ride under a security barrier and died after hitting his head.

Absolutely nothing happened while I was at school.

I went to boarding school in South Africa’.

My roommate died of cancer. She’d been ill on and off for years. She was born with retinal Blastoma which unfortunately almost always mutates into different and more serious cancers as the child grows up into an adult. There were two other girls in the same class born with the same condition they both died of different cancers as adults. In fact of the 5 people who I know who have the condition, only one hasn’t developed a different kind of cancer, her child who inherited the condition from her has though.

Another boy had left the school to go to one closer to home and was hit by a car, banged his head on a pavement and died from a bleed on the brain later that night.

And there was a school trip to Namibia, they were driving down a dirt road when a tyre burst and the mini bus rolled, one of the boys was killed. I was meant to go on the trip but ended up going to stay with a friend for the holiday instead.

And the amount of kids who have died since I left school is tragic. There were the afore-mentioned two who died of cancer, one in a car accident, another more recently of cancer, and at least three that I know of died from COVID. Also I can think of at least two who took their own lives.

Oh and another of my classmates died of an embolism in January.

The only reason we found out was because there was an article in the news about her mum dying. She was the previous president (P.W.Botha’s) daughter, and it was reported she’d been killed in a car crash on her way back from scattering her daughter (my friend) ashes. That was the first anyone had heard of it.

A girl at my school was stabbed by someone with mental health issues. She was only 11/12 at the time. Awful.

Wow.

Nothing like these.

One teacher dies of cancer, I don't think I ever met her but we used to pray for her in assemblies.

On the day of the funeral the funeral cortege went past the school and we all had to stand on the pavement and bow our heads as it passed.

After that we went back to lessons and the teacher we had was crying as she was close friends, never seen a teacher cry before.

Compared to the murders, suicides and other horrific events it seems like nothing.

Yes. A teacher whacked a golf ball and it hit a boy in the head and killed him.

I found this thread initially fairly voyeuristic to be honest but at the same time, three of my own schoolmates died in the 80s and I’ve never forgotten about them. I have often wondered how their families recovered.

We went to a catholic school which meant there was quite a lot opportunity for reflection and discussion and that was probably helpful. We were definitely supported initially… still expected to get on with it quickly.

Brendan - hit by a lorry aged 7
Neil - hit by a car aged 8
Paul - cancer aged 11.

Close friend of mine was snatched and murdered. We were 15. That was 23 years ago.

The evil bastard kept her body in a freezer for 9 months before dumping her body in the woods.

I honestly don't think I will ever get over it.

we had a classmate drop dead on the way back from going home for her lunch. She was a lovely girl, 13 when she died. She had fought Leukemia as a child, don’t think we ever found out her exact cause of death.

my friends brother also died when he was in the sixth form, he had been fighting Leukemia for 8yrs at that point. So sad

When I was in primary a girl died of leukaemia and her sister was still in the school. I found out via my mum, but I don’t remember anything being said/done at school, it was just swept under the carpet.

In the mid-nineties when I was in my first year of secondary school, a thirteen year old girl at my school took her own life. She'd been subjected to a lot of bullying from boys at the school, and it all came to a head when a group gathered outside her house, pelting it with eggs, etc, whilst chanting insults.

I only knew her face, not to talk to, but it was still pretty shocking.

It made national news at the time.

My best friend died when we were 13. I'd seen her in town that Saturday and she just collapsed and died a few hours later, playing in the park.
Her autopsy showed an enlarged thyroid gland.
My daughter has her name as a middle name.

Slightly different but still awful: my sixth form form tutor was arrested for having sex with one of his students. We all had a bit of a crush on him and it makes me feel weird that he probably used that to lure a girl into his bed.

@KangFang I wonder if you went to my school. I was just about to post about my school friend. Westfield?

Thinking about it I don't remember any suicides when we were at school but statistically there is likely to have been one. Perhaps it was covered up so that we didn't try to copy? Awfully there was a suicide at DS1's school this year and they brought in counsellors so that anybody who needed to talk about anything could. There is q shortage of mental health provision at the moment because so many people are struggling after covid and lockdowns.

My brother use to go to a school put pulled out and changed school. in the 5th year when the class was all ready to sit the G.C.S.E exams a man went in with a flamethrower and burnt a lot of the children esp at the front got the worst. A childhood friend sadly was very badly burnt, though he has done amazing albeit I’m not sure mentally how this affects him to this day but he always comes across very upbeat and a lovely fella. Thankfully their was no deaths. It came about it was a past pupil with a grudge for the headmaster. We live in a quiet town so nothing like this was ever heard off before.

Not whilst I was at school but years after I left a year 11 boy lured a year 7 boy tonhis home and killed him .

Not whilst at school but at primary, going back 50 years now, we had an awful bully. He was just terrible and when we went to camp aged 11 he was kicking us lads all night long in the big long tent. We were all glad to leave and just hoping he wasn't coming to our secondary school. At 18 he joined the Army and was shot dead by the IRA. My mum suddenly heard the name on News At Ten and called me .

A group of boys from my secondary school went for a car ride with a older brother from the group and the car went out of control and crashed. They were apparently speeding and the weather was wet and icy and the du carriageway had some sharp turns. 3 boys from my year sadly passed and the older brother as well which the town knew the family well. Other than that, a few people who I knew from secondary school ended their life within the last 10 years but we weren't at school together when it happened. I found out through fb. it's sad because I always thought they were the cheerful happy go lucky ones.

My brother best friend was going out for the day on his roller blades he was actually wearing them on the train when the old train door busted open, the ones with the locks 25 years ago, not the sliding electrical ones we have now on south western railway. The door busted open and he tried to cling on to his seat ot a rail and unfortunately was sucked out and carried under the tracks. Miraculously, the kids who were with him didnt get sucked out and my brother didnt go out with them that day too either, thank God. He died and my brother was beside himself when he found out. I also met the boy a handful of times. I was possibly around 10 and they were 14 or 15 and the boy was really lovely and polite when he would come to ours for tea. Such a shame. It was awful for my brother.

A teacher also in my senior school was a horrid paedophile and would always be watching the girls bums as they walked. He left the school and another teacher was found guilty of grooming school girls at the same school only a few years ago.

@PopsicleHustler omg, that’s awful - the story regarding your brother’s friend.