School closes for memorial

[memorial]

Small village primary school, about 120 children from nursery to Yr 6.
A young girl is diagnosed with a brain tumour a few years ago, and died last week. She has a younger sibling in the school. Obviously all the teachers are heartbroken.
But a lot of the children and parents dont know her or her family. Her year group are now in Year 7 so have left the primary.
The school is closing early at 12pm for the memorial. There are obviously a fair number of families who wont go as they have no link or ties to this little girl. But equally all the teachers want to go, and there will be a good number of children and families going.
The memorial is at 1:30pm very close to the school.
There are some disgruntled parents that the whole school is closing.
I am purposefully not saying which side of this I am on.
Is the school BU to close early?

It's not a 'business' it's a village school.

Vile

Except it isn't Amy.

But we're not talking about many many businesses, are we. We're talking about a small school. A school which taught and looked after this little girl and her siblings. Nobody's suggesting that the workplaces of all the parents should close ffs, so don't distort things. And resorting to the bog standard, tired 'none of you live in the real world' is just crass.

I'm sure your colleague was inspired by your efforts amy. It must have brought her such comfort in her hour of need.

I struggle to see schools as anything other than reality.

just because it happened doesn't mean that it was right to happen or that everyone else should follow suite.

I work in a very large school so it would be unlikely that we would close in any eventuality but I wouldn expect the rural secondary down the road to work by the same principles

You're all heart Amy . Let's hope you don't have heartache of this magnitude in your life.

I think the school is doing the right thing. When my Mum died I was only a baby but my older siblings were in primary, a small catholic school. Many things were handled badly at that time but one of the positive memories they have is of their teachers and classmates all attending the church, and the choir singing.

Amy, I live in the real world. In which my child is dead. As Mrs devere described earlier, I watched him die, take his last breaths, go cold.

That is the real world.

the school,is closing for half a day to go to a ex-pupil's funeral - perfectly fine. The disgruntled parents shouldn't be so heartless.

Businesses do close for funerals also. I've seen shop with signs up saying they're closing early due to funerals.

I can understand people being a bit fed up of the process of finding childcare.... while still understanding and supporting the reason for closure... but to be disgruntled that the school is closing for a memorial is crass. and vu.

Amy, when my dad died, about 20 people from his big London accountancy firm came to his funeral, which was in a little village quite a distance away. I only thought a couple would come, but it meant a lot that they were there. It meant that quite a few VIP clients were without service for the day, and the firm most likely took a substantial hit, but they did it out of care and respect for my dad and his family.

It sounds as if you are the one out of touch with the 'real world', which, like this thread illustrates, is about 98% compassionate people who value each other in a community.

StinkyFeet I'm so sorry for your loss. I am also sorry you are reading the shit that is being posted on this thread.

You are right about one thing, Amybear. You ARE way off the mark.

Throughout all of my time at school, there was one assembly which stood out in my mind, and still does over 30 years after leaving the school. I was in my first year of secondary school (year 7 today). I was just a few weeks into my first term there and it was Monday morning.

I remember our school headmaster, dressed all in black and barely able to get his words out. The serving deputy head, his friend, friend of most of the staff and well liked by many pupils too, had died of a sudden and massive heart attack that weekend. As others have said, schools are communities. The sense of shock throughout our school was palpable. It was a very shocking event. I am sure it would be at least as shocking, if not more so, had a child of my own age died.

The deputy head's funeral was just over a week later, in the afternoon. School closed at lunchtime to allow staff and pupils who wished to attend to do so. It was absolutely right that it should have been so.

Teachers build up relationships with their students. Professional relationships, but usually cordial and caring nonetheless. Many of them also have children of their own, perhaps of the same or similar age, and they cannot fail to be affected by the death of a child they have taught regularly. They are human. They can be upset and shocked too and want to pay respects however they can.

stinky

I think some people like Baltimore and Amy must be secret OFSTED inspectors who only see schools and children in terms of numbers and graphs.
Schools are not businesses. They are places where children are loved, cared for and nurtured. When you have taught a child for a year you feel a connection with them. I cry at the end of most school years as I will miss the children that have been such a large part of my life for a year.
It is very different from a work colleague in an office. As a teacher you have an emotional investment in every child you teach.
I work in a medium sized school of 400 children I know most of them by name and have taught about 200 of them.

I have never experienced the loss of a child personally. I feel it must be every parents' worst nightmare. Although its nothing compared with the life time grief of a parent who has lost a child, the death of a child is traumatic for the entire community. Believe it or not, it shakes everyone who knew that child to the core. It makes you question your own immortality, you hold your child closer and realise quite how harsh, unfair and unpredictable the world is.

I knew a young teen with severe learning difficulties who died. The school did not shut as parents specifically requested that they wanted to the funeral to be close family only.

Sometimes you need to take a step back from the treadmill. School is more than just passing SATs or providing childcare. Schools are expected to act in loco parentis and a good school is like a family. I feel its appriopiate for a school to close for an afternoon to remember a child or member of staff who died. Parents who whinge about having to take the afternoon off work should count their blessings. It is important to realise you work to live rather than live to work.

I am sorry for those on their thread who have lost their children. I hope they do gain comfort to know that there are people outside their immediate family who mourn their children.

I am glad that the real world has more compassion than Amy's world.

Amy a friend of mine worked at Vodafone. You know, the telecoms giant. When he died they allowed anyone who wanted to time off to go to the funeral and they provided buses for those staff. They also contributed a significant amount to the bar bill at the funeral. Many of the directors attended alongside about 60 members of staff, whole departments emptied that day. In commercial terms they would have lost money if course but in doing the right thing by my friend and his widow they gained so much more.

Thanks for the

Blackeyedsusan, I don't understand i people being irritated at all. I would just feel so very grateful I had the problem of having to find childcare.

for all of you on this thread who have been through the loss of a child.

I can't begin to imagine what you have gone through, and continue to go through. I CAN imagine though, that some of the cold-hearted posts on this thread must be rather upsetting. Most of us aren't like that.

And it's not about being heartless

It is.

Of course the school are right to close and I hope the family are comforted by the presence of school friends and teachers, past and present. My thoughts are with you OP, the parents and, of course, MrsDeVere and stinky.

To those who think that some parents are right to feel inconvenienced by the memorial of a child who has died, give yourselves a bloody good slap and hope to God you are never in the position to realise the true hurt your crass and, quite frankly, disgusting comments have caused. You should be ashamed of yourselves

Ask those parents how they would feel if it was their child that had died and the school carried on as normal with no regard for their precious child's life?
Those parents are wicked and selfish

Ask those parents how they would feel if it was their child that had died and the school carried on as normal with no regard for their precious child's life?
Those parents are wicked and selfish