Epsom College tragedy

[Bambala]

I was horrified to read the story about the headteacher and family dying this morning, this poor family and I can't stop thinking about how the children at school must feel learning about this tragedy. I am sure the staff there are being brilliant at supporting them. I remember hearing that my old headteacher had died after I left school and even then being really shocked and upset.

People (inc me) possibly can't see it due to paywall.

I saw the headline though.

The headlines is enough. That's all I've seen. Shutting a MN thread down is pointless.

@AllThingsServeTheBeam no you have to
pay for that.

Mumsnet is becoming a joke deleting threads even though it’s all over press! Seriously give your heads a wobble those demanding everything is deleted 🙄

Only schools offering CCF are likely to have a rifle range. That’s not widespread.

Anyone can have a shotgun (possible also a rifle, not certain) - it is absolutely not "the privileged"

Facts according to the Telegraph: gunshots were heard, staff called emergency services. The school’s rifle range has been cordoned off.

You even use an exclamation mark in your post. This thread is in poor taste, frankly.

@OhCrumbsWhereNow

Yes of course live rounds for the ranges - I was conflating target shooting and CCF exercises. Teach me to type in a hurry. I was trying (poorly) to explain why some schools have weapons and ammunition on site. At DS's school there is an armoury and a range. The CCF sign rifles out of the armoury for exercises and displays but use only blanks in those situations.

There are also live rounds in the armoury but there are strict protocols and restrictions surrounding the issue and use of live ammo for use on the range.

No cadets are marauding around school grounds with rifles and live rounds. As far as I'm aware a very select number of staff have access to the armoury and all are reservists or ex-servicemen and women.

JT Supporting children whilst dealing with the loss yourself is incredibly difficult (I speak from experience).

I am sure it is and they will no doubt be asking what and why questions.

A classmate died when I was at school in Spain. Without being specific it was an odd death that involved someone doing something they should not have and her being inattentive. Accident + negligence + wrong place, wrong time. It hit hard. Her close friends much more than me. I think of her every year and what her life might have been like.

It’s inappropriate to be speculating ghoulishly about the deaths of three people.
Don’t you know that?

We visited 8 boarding schools before choosing one. Each had a thriving CCF and all of those had armouries. Not all had ranges.

Not to see the headlines

Discussing items reported in the news is one of the basics of modern life.

If you don't like it, or find it distasteful, do remember that you don't have to read threads on subjects that are in the news.

Taking down whole active threads on subjects which are being covered by every media outlet in the country is beyond fatuous.

This is a female crime of similar severity, reported today?

Ok, luckily these children will survive, but the intention was that they would not.

So, it's never a female crime is not really correct.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-64540343

I don’t agree that anyone is ‘speculating ghoulishly’ given the facts that: gunshots were heard, bodies found and the police confirm no third party is involved.
What other conclusion is there?

If those facts are wrong then the media is at fault for reporting them - though wouldn’t be the first time I suppose

@Cam22 I don't see ghoulishness I see shock and discussion based on people's own experiences. There is nothing ghoulish about that.

That’s what makes it so odd. My DN is in the CCF, shoots for his school and at county level. The security is super high. I’d be surprised if the head had access to live ammunition, let alone her DH.

That may or may not be a family annihilation, though.

I have asked for it to be taken down as I was delayed by work and then when I came back on there seem to be lots of people who think it should stay. As some posters have reported it MN might find it appropriate to take down anyway.
I find the gun aspect very chilling. Like I said upthread my housemaster’s wife should not have been in contact with children and she was a very damaging influence and I find it very strange that people are so involved with school life at boarding schools and live on site around children just because they are married to staff. Especially if they somehow have found a way to access weapons beyond the strict rules that surely are applied by the registered staff who look after them. If this is what happened which seems likely now, it is an extreme one off but highlights something that I have found worrying for many years.

Haven’t!

Indeed. However many MNetters just adore dishing out big telling offs to other posters and pretending that perfectly normal processing of shocking events is mean spirited and shameful.

I don't see the point of your post @Bambala
It's all over the media.

We don't know the details yet but as they police say they are not looking for a 3rd party, it's quite obvious what has occurred.

I mean, I even felt sorry for Tommy Lee Royce last night for a moment or two....

How can you even begin to think a fictional character in a TV show is remotely like cases of this nature - where real people have died, including a child - and use it as your barometer of emotion?

Then to make the purely speculative leap about possible historic child abuse as an 'excuse' or reason for this situation is, frankly, abhorrent.