Almost a year on from Bailey Gwynne’s tragic death, the head teacher of Cults Academy said pupils and staff are still trying to come to terms with the tragedy.
Anna Muirhead, who has led Cults Academy since 2004, said the incident had at first seemed to be a minor scuffle in an otherwise ordinary lunchtime.
But as the severity of the situation quickly became apparent, Mrs Muirhead said it became a day that would forever change the face of her school.
She said: “It was a traumatic day, and one that we will never forget.
“It was just at the end of what appeared to be a normal lunch time.
“We were returning to our rooms after being on lunch duty, when we got a message that there had been an incident.
“It was fairly obvious that it was very, very serious.”
Staff found Bailey collapsed on the floor of the main communal area of the school – known as “The Street” – bleeding heavily from the knife wound in his chest, after his killer pierced his heart.
They did everything they could to save Bailey’s life, but they soon received word back from the hospital that the stabbing had been fatal.
Mrs Muirhead said: “You just kick into automation. There are emergency services, there are people to contact, you have to manage the situation and make sure all the youngsters are in their classes and settled while, of course, attending to Bailey as best we could.
“We had excellent teamwork from everybody on site, followed by a rapid response from the police and emergency services.
“But, thereafter, we got the news through from the hospital and had to go and address the staff.”
As the shocking news of the stabbing spread throughout the school and into the wider community, hundreds of floral tributes were placed at the school’s gates in an outpouring of grief from pupils, teachers, and friends of the 16-year-old victim.
Cults Academy closed its doors in the following days to allow the youngsters time to mourn.
Mrs Muirhead said: “We closed the school for two days, which I think was a very good judgement.
“It was a shock, a physical shock, it was such an appalling trauma that folk needed time to come to terms with it.”
Mrs Muirhead said one of the strangest experiences was being in the school on those days, with empty corridors, vacant classrooms and only silence filling the halls.
She said: “I think those days were the hardest, a school without pupils is a rather unpleasant experience.
“For the reopening on Monday, we decided we would have special assemblies, we started with the sixth years, and worked our way down to S1.
“We were particularly mindful of Bailey’s close group of friends, who were of course some of the most traumatised by the incident.
“We were also mindful for some of the younger members of staff, for many of them it was their first time dealing with a bereavement as well.”
As time went on and with looming exams and the need for study, the school’s management endeavoured to return some sense of normality to Cults Academy.
However, the memory of Bailey is still very much alive at the school.
Mrs Muirhead said: “Everyone’s been amazingly resilient.
“As the weeks went on, we all strove to refocus on education for the young people, because that can’t be delayed, and exams can’t be delayed – but at the same time, we were always thinking of Bailey and talking about him.
“I kept close contact with Bailey’s particular group of friends. They helped to organise a little ceremony which they held in early December, and we were very touched that all of Bailey’s family could attend.
“And we planted a little tree and put in a plaque with a picture of Bailey’s beloved pug Teddy.
“Since then we’ve continued to remember Bailey. We talk about him often at assemblies, and lately we’ve been working with a local artist to plan a more permanent memorial, a piece of artwork which will try and capture the essence of Bailey’s personality and feature all of his loves and interests.
“We know that this incident and Bailey will forever be woven into the fabric of this academy.”
The months that have passed since Bailey’s death have also given the school, and education chiefs across Scotland, time to reassess and reaffirm attitudes towards bullying, weapons and violence in schools.
Cults Academy has put in place a raft of new schemes and initiatives in an effort to prevent another tragedy from ever taking place.
