SAD TIME FOR OMAGH SCHOOLS
Sad time for Omagh schools
By Martin Anderson
FOR most children, returning to school after the summer break will be an exciting time spent catching up on events since June.
But for pupils and teachers at Omagh High School and Strabane Grammar School it will be a time of sadness, remembering their friends killed in the Omagh bomb.
In special assemblies today and tomorrow, the schools will begin the process of helping teachers and pupils come to terms with the deaths as they start a new academic year.
Rosemary Cummings, deputy head of Omagh High, said it would be a difficult time for the school, which returns for the first time tomorrow.
"It's very difficult to deal with as it's a totally unknown situation for us all. We've never had to deal with anything like this before," she said.
"Obviously, everyone is slightly apprehensive about the first day back but hopefully we are all experienced professionals and have enough common sense and compassion to try and help any pupils who need help.
"We also have to remember that its not just children who were involved and a lot of adults will have been affected as well.
"It's a very difficult thing to strike exactly the right note but hopefully we will be able to help ourselves and our pupils."
Mrs Cummings added that the school authorities would be meeting this week to look at the best ways of taking advantage of the counselling services being offered to all schools by the Western Education and Library Board.
Samantha McFarland (17) moved from Omagh High to Strabane Grammar last year to start studying for her A-levels.
As her brother, Richard, said at her funeral, she never got to sit her A-levels or her driving test but she passed the test of life with ease.
Her best friend, Lorraine Wilson (15), would have sat her GCSE's at the end of this year at Omagh High.
Both were killed after being evacuated from the Oxfam shop where they spent every Saturday doing volunteer work for the charity.
Another Omagh High pupil, Alan Radford (16), was out helping his mother with her shopping on that sunny Saturday afternoon when he was killed.
He was one of the last to be identified after his brother searched for hours for him.
Two former Omagh High pupils were also killed in the explosion, Esther Gibson (36), and Debra Cartwright (20).
By Martin Anderson
FOR most children, returning to school after the summer break will be an exciting time spent catching up on events since June.
But for pupils and teachers at Omagh High School and Strabane Grammar School it will be a time of sadness, remembering their friends killed in the Omagh bomb.
In special assemblies today and tomorrow, the schools will begin the process of helping teachers and pupils come to terms with the deaths as they start a new academic year.
Rosemary Cummings, deputy head of Omagh High, said it would be a difficult time for the school, which returns for the first time tomorrow.
"It's very difficult to deal with as it's a totally unknown situation for us all. We've never had to deal with anything like this before," she said.
"Obviously, everyone is slightly apprehensive about the first day back but hopefully we are all experienced professionals and have enough common sense and compassion to try and help any pupils who need help.
"We also have to remember that its not just children who were involved and a lot of adults will have been affected as well.
"It's a very difficult thing to strike exactly the right note but hopefully we will be able to help ourselves and our pupils."
Mrs Cummings added that the school authorities would be meeting this week to look at the best ways of taking advantage of the counselling services being offered to all schools by the Western Education and Library Board.
Samantha McFarland (17) moved from Omagh High to Strabane Grammar last year to start studying for her A-levels.
As her brother, Richard, said at her funeral, she never got to sit her A-levels or her driving test but she passed the test of life with ease.
Her best friend, Lorraine Wilson (15), would have sat her GCSE's at the end of this year at Omagh High.
Both were killed after being evacuated from the Oxfam shop where they spent every Saturday doing volunteer work for the charity.
Another Omagh High pupil, Alan Radford (16), was out helping his mother with her shopping on that sunny Saturday afternoon when he was killed.
He was one of the last to be identified after his brother searched for hours for him.
Two former Omagh High pupils were also killed in the explosion, Esther Gibson (36), and Debra Cartwright (20).
Further Information
Publisher: THE IRISH NEWS
Ref: IN/0346
Published Date: 01-Sep-98
Related Images
There have been no images archived for this article.