Headteacher says pupils are ‘breaking down in school’ after finding suicide note

A headteacher has said schools must never close again after finding a suicide note written by a pupil.

Armando Di Finizio, head of Cardiff’s Eastern High, said the ‘trauma’ caused by the Covid-19 pandemic has seen students ‘break down in front of him’ while child protection referrals have also soared. 

He said the lockdowns, which saw schools closed for months, created an environment ‘not dissimilar to Lord of the Flies’ and that the effect on children must not be underestimated.

Mr Di Finizio said: ‘Schools have to recognise young people have been through trauma.

‘People will say they are resilient but not all are. We have had to deal with far higher levels of child protection issues. These things are coming out now.

‘Kids are breaking down in front of us. I recently picked up a suicide note on the ground. One of the pupils had obviously deliberately left it there to be seen.’

While students can catch up with the work, the bigger focus should be on re-establishing relationships and good habits of learning, the headteacher said. 

‘I have said to my teachers, don’t worry so much about getting knowledge into their heads, that will come, work on relationships and building good habits of learning,’ he added.

‘Pupils want normality. It’s not the knowledge but the skills and habits they have lost during this time. Habits like being resourceful, or showing resilience. They need to learn to get on with each other and work collaboratively again.’

Mr Di Finizio previously turned around his 870-pupil strong school, which went from a failing institution to being oversubscribed and having record GCSE results. 

But he warned that the lockdowns saw a rise in cyber bullying which has continued into the classroom as the schools have reopened. 

There have also been more fights stemming from virtual arguments on social media apps like Tik Tok, he said. 

He added: ‘Another reason for schools not closing ever again is the loss of structure when they are shut. When we went out on the streets delivering books to pupils last summer when schools were closed, it was a bit like Lords of the Flies.