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Reading Chronicle

Published: Thursday, 5th March, 2009 8:00am

"We lost three wonderful pupils in seven weeks"

Profile by Annabel Williams

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A HEADTEACHER has spoken of the heartbreak she shares with parents after three of her pupils died in a seven week period.

Sue Bourne is head at The Avenue special school in Tilehurst, where three teenagers with cerebral palsy have died since Christmas Eve - 14-year-old Kaleb, William, aged 16, and James, 18.

Mrs Bourne wrote to Tory leader David Cameron on hearing that his six-year-old son Ivan, who suffered from cerebral palsy and severe epilepsy, had died, to share her experiences.

She wrote: "I felt the loss very deeply. My life revolves around a school for special needs pupils and from time to time we have our losses too.

"The strength of those around you can be what gets you through those bad times and I have to say that is what I have around me.

"I now feel compelled to write to demonstrate my strength of feeling and the pride I have in the school community, as it experiences one of its greatest challenges - the loss of three wonderful young men in seven weeks. The impact on our small and very special community has been significant.

"To lose one child is awful, two is incredibly painful, three becomes unbearable and even the strongest of us can crumble.

"How to explain the loss to pupils, parents and staff becomes an enormous challenge and as a head you look for a 'tool kit' to help.

"The reality is that there is no 'tool kit', no protocol, nothing but your intuition to steer you through this journey of bereavement.

"Everyone needs different things from you and you need different things from others.

"Kaleb, William and James are not the first, nor sadly will they be the last pupils who we will have to say goodbye to, but what keeps us all going is the recognition that we do an outstanding job and our belief that they could not have been educated and cared for in a better school.

"As you go about your busy lives, I urge you all to remember the words of Muhammad Ali: 'Don't count the days, make the days count', and to remember how brief and what a precious gift life is.

"I hope the Cameron family and anyone else in similar circumstances find the support they need."

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