Ammanford in the spotlight

It's where my daughter and my wife 's nieces were educated. When I took early retirement,  I did  some supply there ,and enjoyed  it.

Any incident  of this involving extreme violence is worrying, but particularly  in a place you know well, and naturally take for granted it is a safe place  for staff and pupils.(which I firmly believe  it still is)

Nevertheless, and incident of the nature will rock the confidence , not just of the school community,  but the community  as a whole .

It will take a little while, but I am confident ,with support, that both the community  and the school, will come together, and put this terrible  incident behind them.

The media and  social media, could play their part, and allow the community,  time and space  to do that

In the longer term the broader picture  is for schools ,the LEA councils,to look at ways of making schools safer places.Various physical measures have been mentioned,  such as metal detectors , but the cost of implementing these at every access and exit point would be huge.

The most important  thing is the absolute reaffirmation that violence, in any form, has no part in school. Teachers and pupils need to feel safe in a caring and nurturing  environment,  which schools like Dyffyn Amman has always been known for.

My kindest thoughts go all those affected, and my admiration for the resilience and maturity of pupils and professionalism of staff.

Top marks to the teachers involved, and indeed to the whole school community for pulling together. It's a great relief to find out that no-one was seriously injured.

The perpetrator will need careful assessment to see why they did what they did... and follow-up supervision to reduce as close to zero as possible the likelihood of a repeat, in an appropriate setting. 

Very true - in this case it seems there is only blame attached to one person unless something comes out during the investigation. Of course in the recent high profile case in the US parents were found guilty & have been imprisoned for not supervising their teenager's gun which they unbelievably purchased for him & seemingly allowed him free access to. What parallel universe do these people live in!!!!!!!