Children's Express reporter and St. Anne's P7 pupil Daniel McCrisken (11) gives his opinion on the devastating arson attack which struck his school last Sunday.
| The fence, when it comes, will make me remember that I do not live in a safe world. |
The malicious fire at my school, St. Anne's Primary School in Dunmurray, last Sunday morning, raised serious doubts among myself and other pupils about the safety of our school.
I don't think school safety generally is a big issue for most pupils. We take it for granted that our school buildings are protected. But that's not the case anymore. I have begun to notice security changes to schools close by, even in my life.
Rathmore Grammar, just a stone's throw away from St. Anne's, has had a security fence installed quite recently. It may well have been the reason why the vandals chose to crash their car into our unprotected school instead.
I don't imagine we'll be unprotected anymore. If you look at the devastation caused by Sunday's fire it seems my school has little choice - it must increase security.
Two of my fellow pupils thought it was really important this sort of thing was not allowed to happen again.
Stephen Kerr (11) said: "They should put a fence around the whole school and put a security guard to make sure that nothing happens."
Gavin Bradley (10) said: "I'd say to them, 'I'm disgusted with you.' It's terrible they way you've ruined our school. It needs protected"
I know that something has to be done about the attack. But it doesn't stop a question going round and round in my head - Why?
The fire destroyed all the records, books and even personal belongings in my classroom. Was that your mission? All the children whose classrooms were burned have already been moved elsewhere in the school and re-building will begin soon.
Once everything dies down things will get back to normal - after all, nobody was hurt and worse fires have happened.
But the fence, when it comes, will make me remember that I do not live in a safe world. I just wish there was not such a degree of lawlessness here that makes such security necessary.
About the team
This article was written by Daniel McCrisken, 11. It was published in the Irish News. Vandalism at the school continued: read Daniel's views on the impact of increased school security.
