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| 'We tried to cope hour by hour': the schools in shadow of Grenfell Tower | 'We tried to cope hour by hour': the schools in shadow of Grenfell Tower |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| ‘It was a bit strange, it felt awkward, everyone was crowding around me,” says Sara Chebiouni, aged nine, of her return to school the week after the Grenfell Tower fire destroyed her home. Sara escaped from her family’s 9th floor flat with her parents and older brother. Her uncle, aunt and three cousins, who lived on the 21st floor, died. | ‘It was a bit strange, it felt awkward, everyone was crowding around me,” says Sara Chebiouni, aged nine, of her return to school the week after the Grenfell Tower fire destroyed her home. Sara escaped from her family’s 9th floor flat with her parents and older brother. Her uncle, aunt and three cousins, who lived on the 21st floor, died. |
| Sara, now in year 5, is one of three Grenfell Tower survivors in her school, Thomas Jones, which is among 10 said by Kensington and Chelsea council to have been significantly affected by bereavements or where children have lost their homes. Another seven schools, among them four primaries and a nursery, had pupils who died, with Kensington Aldridge Academy losing five. One school has almost 40 families in temporary accommodation. | Sara, now in year 5, is one of three Grenfell Tower survivors in her school, Thomas Jones, which is among 10 said by Kensington and Chelsea council to have been significantly affected by bereavements or where children have lost their homes. Another seven schools, among them four primaries and a nursery, had pupils who died, with Kensington Aldridge Academy losing five. One school has almost 40 families in temporary accommodation. |
| The authorities are widely understood to have failed the Grenfell victims – a failure most clearly seen in the fact that, six months after the fire, which killed 71 people including 19 children, hundreds of people are still waiting to be rehoused. | The authorities are widely understood to have failed the Grenfell victims – a failure most clearly seen in the fact that, six months after the fire, which killed 71 people including 19 children, hundreds of people are still waiting to be rehoused. |
| Amid the horror, grief, rage and confusion of the months since that night, 14 June, Sara’s mother, Hanan Wahabi, says her daughter’s school has been a sanctuary. “I can pray at home, prayers you can do anywhere, but this is different. Lindsay’s [Johnson, the deputy head’s] office is our own kind of therapy.” | |
| Wahabi, who stood outside the tower all night, waiting in vain for her brother to come out, describes how the headteacher, David Sellens, found her family in a rescue centre. “They were the first, Mr Sellens and Lindsay. They came to look for us, to see us in our pyjamas.” | Wahabi, who stood outside the tower all night, waiting in vain for her brother to come out, describes how the headteacher, David Sellens, found her family in a rescue centre. “They were the first, Mr Sellens and Lindsay. They came to look for us, to see us in our pyjamas.” |
| Johnson gave them her personal mobile number and offered practical help: new school uniform and bags for the children, free places at after-school and breakfast clubs. The contrast with the failure of council officers and local politicians to connect with residents is stark. | Johnson gave them her personal mobile number and offered practical help: new school uniform and bags for the children, free places at after-school and breakfast clubs. The contrast with the failure of council officers and local politicians to connect with residents is stark. |
| Mouna El Ogbani, another Thomas Jones parent, and a domestic violence outreach worker, who lived on the 11th floor of Grenfell for 11 years, praises the “treats” the school laid on for its young survivors, including her daughter Hafsa Khalloud, aged 10. “They had lunch with Mr Sellens, they went to the theatre, they had hot chocolate. It made them feel they were OK – that this has happened but they can move on.” | Mouna El Ogbani, another Thomas Jones parent, and a domestic violence outreach worker, who lived on the 11th floor of Grenfell for 11 years, praises the “treats” the school laid on for its young survivors, including her daughter Hafsa Khalloud, aged 10. “They had lunch with Mr Sellens, they went to the theatre, they had hot chocolate. It made them feel they were OK – that this has happened but they can move on.” |
| Her teenage son lost his best friend, Yahya Hashim. Yahya’s six-year-old brother, Yaqub, was at Avondale Park primary, while Wahabi’s eight-year-old nephew, Mehdi El Wahabi, who also died in the blaze, attended nearby Oxford Gardens. Both schools have views of the ruin of Grenfell Tower. When the boys and their families were buried, their headteachers were there. | Her teenage son lost his best friend, Yahya Hashim. Yahya’s six-year-old brother, Yaqub, was at Avondale Park primary, while Wahabi’s eight-year-old nephew, Mehdi El Wahabi, who also died in the blaze, attended nearby Oxford Gardens. Both schools have views of the ruin of Grenfell Tower. When the boys and their families were buried, their headteachers were there. |
| Sellens says: “Every family has a story to tell of somebody they knew, somebody they were related to. Those connections would take years to understand.” Johnson has a son in a secondary school class that lost a child. | Sellens says: “Every family has a story to tell of somebody they knew, somebody they were related to. Those connections would take years to understand.” Johnson has a son in a secondary school class that lost a child. |
| When talking to teachers, parents and children at these schools, the social connectedness and physical closeness of this community are inescapable, as is the impact of the losses they have sustained. In contrast to terrorist attacks and train or plane crashes, which typically affect people from a much wider geographical area, Grenfell is a uniquely local tragedy. While the Aberfan colliery spoil tip collapse of 1966 and the Dunblane massacre 30 years later each killed more pupils in a single school than Grenfell did, it is hard to think of any peacetime precedent in Britain for the multiple bereavements and displacements affecting a clutch of neighbourhood schools, not to mention the continuing trauma of their proximity to the disaster site. | When talking to teachers, parents and children at these schools, the social connectedness and physical closeness of this community are inescapable, as is the impact of the losses they have sustained. In contrast to terrorist attacks and train or plane crashes, which typically affect people from a much wider geographical area, Grenfell is a uniquely local tragedy. While the Aberfan colliery spoil tip collapse of 1966 and the Dunblane massacre 30 years later each killed more pupils in a single school than Grenfell did, it is hard to think of any peacetime precedent in Britain for the multiple bereavements and displacements affecting a clutch of neighbourhood schools, not to mention the continuing trauma of their proximity to the disaster site. |
| Sarah Cooper, headteacher of Oxford Gardens primary, has not talked to the press before. “It’s almost like locking the gates to keep everyone safe and so we can work through it together,” she explains. “Because we don’t really know what we’re doing and the only way we can do that is by not having anyone watching us.” | Sarah Cooper, headteacher of Oxford Gardens primary, has not talked to the press before. “It’s almost like locking the gates to keep everyone safe and so we can work through it together,” she explains. “Because we don’t really know what we’re doing and the only way we can do that is by not having anyone watching us.” |
| Like the other local primaries, Oxford Gardens has staff with deep roots in North Kensington. Cooper has worked here for 20 years. Her deputy, Leila Kent, had her first job at Barlby primary, up the road, where the TV choirmaster Gareth Malone led a hastily assembled chorus of local residents that sang on the charity single Bridge over Troubled Water, recorded in the days after the fire. | Like the other local primaries, Oxford Gardens has staff with deep roots in North Kensington. Cooper has worked here for 20 years. Her deputy, Leila Kent, had her first job at Barlby primary, up the road, where the TV choirmaster Gareth Malone led a hastily assembled chorus of local residents that sang on the charity single Bridge over Troubled Water, recorded in the days after the fire. |
| Along with Mehdi, Cooper’s school lost a popular former pupil, Biruk Haftom. Biruk’s mother, Berkti, who also died, had been a regular volunteer. “If they come to you in nursery it’s a very long time they’re with you and that’s not widely recognised – it’s longer than they are in secondary school,” Cooper says. “The way you develop relationships with a family and nurture a child during those formative years, that’s something that bonds you always.” | Along with Mehdi, Cooper’s school lost a popular former pupil, Biruk Haftom. Biruk’s mother, Berkti, who also died, had been a regular volunteer. “If they come to you in nursery it’s a very long time they’re with you and that’s not widely recognised – it’s longer than they are in secondary school,” Cooper says. “The way you develop relationships with a family and nurture a child during those formative years, that’s something that bonds you always.” |
| At Avondale Park, visited by the pop star Adele after the fire, one side of the hall is devoted to mourning two families, the Hashims and Choucairs, who both lived on Grenfell’s 22nd floor. The school’s dead include three pupils, former pupils and a member of staff. | At Avondale Park, visited by the pop star Adele after the fire, one side of the hall is devoted to mourning two families, the Hashims and Choucairs, who both lived on Grenfell’s 22nd floor. The school’s dead include three pupils, former pupils and a member of staff. |
| “I can’t quite describe how it affected us, I would say we tried to cope day by day, but it was more hour by hour,” says Katy Blackler, the headteacher. | “I can’t quite describe how it affected us, I would say we tried to cope day by day, but it was more hour by hour,” says Katy Blackler, the headteacher. |
| “I want to be a fireman because I want to save the world,” reads a piece of work by Yaqub Hashim, who was six when he died, collected in a scrapbook shown to me by two of his classmates. Yaqub has become something of a comic legend here. His friend Maria describes how once in PE, when he was dancing and his PE trousers slipped down revealing his pants, he made everyone laugh by wiggling his bottom. Now he’s dead, and these children must somehow make sense of what happened. | “I want to be a fireman because I want to save the world,” reads a piece of work by Yaqub Hashim, who was six when he died, collected in a scrapbook shown to me by two of his classmates. Yaqub has become something of a comic legend here. His friend Maria describes how once in PE, when he was dancing and his PE trousers slipped down revealing his pants, he made everyone laugh by wiggling his bottom. Now he’s dead, and these children must somehow make sense of what happened. |
| Blackler says nothing could have prepared her for the search for items bearing DNA; for Sats and phonics scores that didn’t tally because missing children were still on the roll; or the question of when – given the time it took to identify them – to remove their names. At some point, here and in the other primary schools that lost children, classroom displays featuring their work will have to come down, as will the photos of their faces beside their coat pegs. | Blackler says nothing could have prepared her for the search for items bearing DNA; for Sats and phonics scores that didn’t tally because missing children were still on the roll; or the question of when – given the time it took to identify them – to remove their names. At some point, here and in the other primary schools that lost children, classroom displays featuring their work will have to come down, as will the photos of their faces beside their coat pegs. |
| “I think their names will be etched on our minds for a long time, it’s hard not to think about them,” says Blackler, who missed her colleague Nadia Choucair badly when returning to school after the summer. Nadia’s three daughters also died: Zainab was in the nursery, Fatima in year 6 and Mierna was a former pupil. “I think it will take a generation, really, a whole new set of teachers and different parents to get through it all.” | “I think their names will be etched on our minds for a long time, it’s hard not to think about them,” says Blackler, who missed her colleague Nadia Choucair badly when returning to school after the summer. Nadia’s three daughters also died: Zainab was in the nursery, Fatima in year 6 and Mierna was a former pupil. “I think it will take a generation, really, a whole new set of teachers and different parents to get through it all.” |
| Anthony Mannix, headteacher at Barlby primary, says: “The amount of emotion coming through our gates has been overwhelming. School is a place where life goes on, but as a headteacher I have found the upset really difficult, because I think from day one we have felt that some of our families have been looking for answers or support that we can’t really give them.” | Anthony Mannix, headteacher at Barlby primary, says: “The amount of emotion coming through our gates has been overwhelming. School is a place where life goes on, but as a headteacher I have found the upset really difficult, because I think from day one we have felt that some of our families have been looking for answers or support that we can’t really give them.” |
| Along with grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins, he points out, many children have lost family friends, and friends from Arabic club or swimming lessons. Some watched the building burn. | Along with grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins, he points out, many children have lost family friends, and friends from Arabic club or swimming lessons. Some watched the building burn. |
| In the first, dazed aftermath of the catastrophe, some anger was directed towards the schools because, explains Leila Kent, the continued use of the term “missing” distressed people who knew their neighbours, friends and relatives had died. | In the first, dazed aftermath of the catastrophe, some anger was directed towards the schools because, explains Leila Kent, the continued use of the term “missing” distressed people who knew their neighbours, friends and relatives had died. |
| Using wording supplied by the council’s educational psychologists, who coordinated the schools’ critical incident response, and whom the headteachers praise, they explained that while they could not confirm that people were dead until this was official, the school could explore what were described as “our worst fears”. At coffee mornings, parents wept. In classrooms, younger children built towers with red bricks and reenacted rescues. | Using wording supplied by the council’s educational psychologists, who coordinated the schools’ critical incident response, and whom the headteachers praise, they explained that while they could not confirm that people were dead until this was official, the school could explore what were described as “our worst fears”. At coffee mornings, parents wept. In classrooms, younger children built towers with red bricks and reenacted rescues. |
| The anger has not gone away. Mouna El Ogbani is active in the Grenfell United organisation, and says the fight for justice keeps her going. And Sellens says he is infuriated by talk of “moving on” when families have barely begun to grieve. | The anger has not gone away. Mouna El Ogbani is active in the Grenfell United organisation, and says the fight for justice keeps her going. And Sellens says he is infuriated by talk of “moving on” when families have barely begun to grieve. |
| But headteachers were clear from the start that their most urgent task was to help children to cope. “So many things have come up that we would never have anticipated,” says Cooper. “Parents coming in and not being able to manage things like bedwetting, anxiety about cooking or fridges, children suddenly describing things they have seen. We’ve always said that we’ll keep you safe and it’s about looking at the meaning of that word now, because it has changed.” | But headteachers were clear from the start that their most urgent task was to help children to cope. “So many things have come up that we would never have anticipated,” says Cooper. “Parents coming in and not being able to manage things like bedwetting, anxiety about cooking or fridges, children suddenly describing things they have seen. We’ve always said that we’ll keep you safe and it’s about looking at the meaning of that word now, because it has changed.” |
| Adriana Zymberaj, whose family escaped from their 13th floor flat, says her son, Alt Haxhisefa, aged 10 and at Thomas Jones, cried a lot at first, in the evenings in the Premier Inn at Earl’s Court, “about losing his home, about his toys, about his bed. He was asking ‘Why us? Why did this happen to us?’ I didn’t know what answer to give him.” | Adriana Zymberaj, whose family escaped from their 13th floor flat, says her son, Alt Haxhisefa, aged 10 and at Thomas Jones, cried a lot at first, in the evenings in the Premier Inn at Earl’s Court, “about losing his home, about his toys, about his bed. He was asking ‘Why us? Why did this happen to us?’ I didn’t know what answer to give him.” |
| Zymberaj, who manages a local deli, says art and play therapy sessions at school have calmed him down, while Alt says if anything positive can be salvaged from the wreckage for him personally, it’s that “I think if I survived that, I can survive anything”. | Zymberaj, who manages a local deli, says art and play therapy sessions at school have calmed him down, while Alt says if anything positive can be salvaged from the wreckage for him personally, it’s that “I think if I survived that, I can survive anything”. |
| Zymberaj, who arrived in Britain as a refugee from Kosovo, was devastated to lose all her possessions for the second time in her life, and deeply appreciative of Lindsay Johnson’s search through school files for some photos of her two boys. | Zymberaj, who arrived in Britain as a refugee from Kosovo, was devastated to lose all her possessions for the second time in her life, and deeply appreciative of Lindsay Johnson’s search through school files for some photos of her two boys. |
| “I knew Thomas Jones was good for education – that’s why I kept my sons in this school for 15 years,” she says. “But I never knew it would be good for all these other things. How can the school be so good when the council can’t handle it?” | “I knew Thomas Jones was good for education – that’s why I kept my sons in this school for 15 years,” she says. “But I never knew it would be good for all these other things. How can the school be so good when the council can’t handle it?” |
| So much of what these families lost in June is irreplaceable. Hanan Wahabi mentions her children’s wristbands from the hospital when they were born, and a T-shirt that belonged to her father, which she kept in a bag after he died to retain his smell. | So much of what these families lost in June is irreplaceable. Hanan Wahabi mentions her children’s wristbands from the hospital when they were born, and a T-shirt that belonged to her father, which she kept in a bag after he died to retain his smell. |
| As time passes, Blackler says her job at Avondale primary is to find the balance between sympathy and toughness. “If your life is all muddled in a hotel room you’ve got to have this stable space where the expectations are exactly the same. Of course we make some exceptions in our heads but I’m still nagging them all about being late.” | As time passes, Blackler says her job at Avondale primary is to find the balance between sympathy and toughness. “If your life is all muddled in a hotel room you’ve got to have this stable space where the expectations are exactly the same. Of course we make some exceptions in our heads but I’m still nagging them all about being late.” |
| Cooper says Oxford Gardens school, like the community that surrounds it, will never be the same. But the lost children “will always be here, in our memory. We like to think they can look down on us and be proud of all the wonderful things we are doing.” | Cooper says Oxford Gardens school, like the community that surrounds it, will never be the same. But the lost children “will always be here, in our memory. We like to think they can look down on us and be proud of all the wonderful things we are doing.” |
| Some of the lost | Some of the lost |