Teacher Killed By Her Student!!

 

The Sun writes that Mrs Maguire was for 40 years "an inspiration" to her classes: "Strict, but always caring, she was loved by all." Meanwhile, the Independent quotes several pupils, including one who said: "As long as we were happy, she was happy."

For the Daily Mirror, the killing "is a tragedy made even more unbearable by the knowledge that after a lifetime of educating children [Mrs Maguire] was, at 61, nearing retirement".


The Daily Express describes how screams in the classroom alerted other teachers to what was going on. It notes that at the school where she taught "pupils were praised for good behaviour". Meanwhile, the Daily Telegraph reports that a "high achieving" boy from a middle-class background was being questioned over the incident.

For the Independent, there are "echoes of an earlier case" - the murder of west London head teacher Philip Lawrence who was stabbed as he tried to break up a fight. It leaves the Daily Mail wondering whether all schools should be "screening their pupils for weapons", although it quotes a union leader saying that teachers aren't comfortable using the search powers they have.

Francis Gilbert - author of I'm a Teacher Get Me Out of Here! - writes in the Daily Telegraph about seeing the "stony rage" in the eyes of a pupil who threatened to kill him after he tried to eject him from class. He suggests there is a "culture of secrecy" in some schools and that teachers need freedom to speak about the problems of poor behaviour before they can be properly understood.