Monday 29 November 2021

Tragedy (trigger warning)


Every now and then something truly horrible happens and teachers have to deal with the aftermath of a tragic event.  School is the one constant for many children and they look to us to help deal with it.

Yesterday one of our wee pupils lost their mum in horrific circumstances.  She was murdered by her partner. Our school community is devastated and our kids are completely bewildered.  Today was a tough day for the adults in our school but we kept it 'business as usual' albeit more gently.

Domestic violence is still part of our lives.  It's 2021 and 2 women a week die in the UK die at the hands of a partner.  This is unacceptable.

18 comments:

  1. Devastating for all who know the family, I'm sure. Hard to imagine how the children will cope with such awful news.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thankfully the younger ones seem to be unaware. It's the adults who are struggling a bit :-(

      Delete
  2. How devastating. I can only imagine the state of the students and the child involved.

    God bless.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thankfully the wee one was staying overnight with grandparents and has been shielded from it all

      Delete
  3. How absolutely tragic. Poor little child, the Mum and her family. Must be very hard for all the teaching staff and children. Sadly as you say, too common an occurrence.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thankfully children are resilient and surprisingly matter of fact about it. It's the adults who are most shocked. When you look at the statistics of domestic violence it's just horrifying :-(

      Delete
  4. How dreadful, poor children. Wishing you all wisdom.
    xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Joy, somehow we're muddling along and doing our best to be positive around the children

      Delete
  5. I am so sorry... what a terrible thing, how truly awful for the children and the rest of her family. It's a timely reminder that these things are happening closer to home than we would all like to think. I am a primary teacher as well and we really do come into contact with everything in society, the good and the bad. Sending all love and prayers. S xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you. Sadly we do see it all. We actually use some of our school's money to fund a full time Family Support Worker and she doesn't have enough hours in the day

      Delete
  6. How dreadful. I must admit I often thought there must be horrific things happening when we were all in lockdown. I can't imagine how horrific it must have been for some people and children especially. Sending hugs to you all. x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. During lockdown we did welfare checks and went to our kids' houses to 'see how they getting on with their home learning.' I remember coming back to my car after visiting one of my wee guys and cried after seeing the mum with a black eye and a swollen face. I am legally bound to report 'stuff' and I do but social work are under staffed and overwhelmed :-(

      Delete
  7. How absolutely devastating, the poor wee girl losing her mum. My heart goes out to her and her family. You don’t know what goes on behind closed doors. My heart aches for the woman and all the others living in similar circumstances. There are too many. No one should live like this. Our world is not a nice place. Thank heavens we do have some who care. Thinking of you all x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you. It's just horrendous with more awful details coming to light each day. As a school community we already support Women's Aid in our area but we will be doing much more in the future.

      Delete
  8. Oh dear, no.
    Thinking of your little student and all of you around them at this time.
    My partner's grandfather lost his Mother as a young one in a similar manner (murdered by his step-father). I have some idea of the long-term effects. That happened in 1920. You would think it would be better not but it's not. It's 2021 and these things should not be happening.

    ***Hugs from across the pond*** (for both you and your student)
    Lea

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you. I think it's the long term effects it will have on a 7yo that upsets the adults the most. His wee life is changed forever but he can't even begin to understand that. The whole community has rallied round the family, it's been amazing.

      Delete
  9. How do we change the cycle,the violence continues on and on? My beautiful cousin was killed by her husband when she told him she was going to leave him. He tried to make it look like a robbery. He later rang the children from his work and told them to go and find Mummy knowing full well what they would discover. Her children were three and four years old, those little angels put band aids (plasters) on her wounds. It breaks a persons heart. It's been a long road but today they are thriving. We've long wondered of the "if only" she had just gone without telling him.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh my goodness, how awful :-( Those poor wee souls, I'm so glad they're thriving now. It's the 'if onlys' that keep us awake at night. Sending your family so much love xxx

      Delete

I love getting comments but I will delete any spam and rude personal comments without hesitation. Thanks