Principal pays tribute to 11-year-old boy who died at a Melbourne school

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The principal of a Melbourne school where a student died, and four others were injured in a horror crash yesterday has paid tribute to Jack Davey and his family. Five children aged 10 and 11 had been sitting at a table at Auburn South Primary School when a car crashed through a fence.

Transcript

00:00There has been a steady stream of people delivering floral tributes here at Auburn South Primary

00:07School, including school children holding their parents' hands and others have been

00:12moved to tears as they have laid flowers just metres away from where this car crashed through

00:19a metal school fence and seriously hurt an 11-year-old boy who sadly later died in hospital.

00:27We've heard from the Principal, Marcus Wicker, who has paid tribute to his wonderful staff

00:34and also parents and he says that their courage and care comforting their children in this

00:41time of unimaginable horror was nothing short of remarkable.

00:45I want to thank and acknowledge my wonderful staff and those parents who helped yesterday,

00:51contributing, providing comfort to our children. Their courage and care can only be described

00:59as remarkable. This school community is so wonderful and strong and together we will

01:05get through this. Our focus is now on supporting our school community, our children, families

01:14and staff.

01:15That's the Principal, Marcus Wicker there and the school has remained open for students

01:21today. Ben Carroll, the Education Minister, says that's because of advice given by counsellors

01:27that it's really important to continue that structure and routine and that comfort for

01:33students in this particularly difficult time. However, there are an additional at least

01:3820 extra teachers that have been brought in from neighbouring schools to help staff, as

01:44well as counsellors from Headspace and a dedicated room and drop-in service for children

01:50who might need that extra support. Now Premier Jacinta Allen spoke earlier and she said that

01:55that support will be available in the coming weeks and months for any student who needs

02:01it. She says that this is a really tough time and it's certainly going to be difficult for

02:07the tight-knit community as well as for Victorians to be able to process this.

02:12I've got a little boy in grade 5 at a local primary school and I think we all felt just

02:17so sick to the stomach yesterday afternoon when we heard that news and I think it's important

02:23that as we get support if we need it, to also reach out to others who we think might be

02:28struggling because this is tough. This is really, really tough.

02:32Premier Jacinta Allen there and we also heard from the Opposition Leader, John Persuto,

02:37who is also the local member for Hawthorne. He says that this is heartbreaking, it is

02:42a parent's worst nightmare and he has offered his condolences to the grieving family, as

02:49well as the family of the four children who were seriously hurt. They were also sitting

02:55around the table in this schoolyard. They are two girls aged 11 and a girl and a boy,

03:01both aged 10 years old. Now they were taken to hospital where they're now in a stable

03:07condition and one of those children has actually been transferred from Monash Medical Centre

03:13to Dandenong Hospital in a stable condition. We've heard from police as well who have said

03:19that they continue to investigate this and they have released the 40-year-old East Hawthorne

03:25female driver pending further inquiries. She was arrested after this crash and police said

03:31that they believed that she had just picked up one of her children from Auburn South Primary

03:37before attempting a U-turn and that's when the car careered off the road and crashed through

03:42the fence and into this table in the schoolyard. They say that it's still too early to be able

03:49to determine exactly what caused this crash, despite an Education Department spokesperson

03:55saying earlier yesterday afternoon that it was believed that it might have been a medical

04:00incident. They also haven't given any further update on the status of the licence of the driver,

04:06even though there were P-plates attached to that car, but they are asking for anybody

04:11who has any further information about this crash to contact them.

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