A brother and sister who died in a house fire were “charming, lovely, loving children”, their class teacher has said.
Eve, 7, and Ohner, 4, died on Boxing Day at their home in Brimscombe Hill, Stroud, with their mother Fionnghuala Shearman and the family dog Hutch.
Their father, Tom Sherman, fled the house and made multiple attempts to re-enter to save his family. Police said he was unable to do so because of the intensity of the fire.
Nick Moss, headteacher at Minchinhampton Church of England Primary School, described the siblings as “amazing” and said the school would prioritize supporting pupils to deal with their feelings.
Moss said Eve, Ona and Fionhura Sherman, known as Nu, were beloved members of the community.
“Eve, I had a lot of conversations with her over time, and she was a very sweet child, very expressive of emotion,” he said.
“Sometimes I sit there and feel like I have more to learn from her than she has to learn from me, [she was] A complete joy. “
Principal Nick Moss said the school would prioritize supporting students when the new term begins on Tuesday [BBC]
Moss said he was just getting to know Ona, who was “very curious, very energetic, very helpful and well-liked by his peers.”
He said the school will “address feelings first” when students return to school on Tuesday.
“We tried to keep it simple this week,” Moss said. “We have to maintain that routine, but we have to be open and honest with them and clearly understand what happened without revealing any details.”
He said the school was working with 2 Wish, a charity that supports charities affected by sudden death among young people.
“These kids have to walk back to school tomorrow and feel basically well-controlled,” Moss added.
He said there would be more adults at the school to look after students and rooms to provide support.
In a statement released on New Year’s Day, Sherman paid tribute to his wife and children and said the “very core” and “very essence” of his family had been “stripped away in the most violent way.”
Sherman, a serving officer with Gloucestershire Police, said he felt “incomprehensibly humbled” by the outpouring of support from the community.
Tributes to Nu, Eve and Ohner have been left at Holy Trinity Minchinhampton [BBC]
An open church service was held at Holy Trinity Church in Minchinhampton on Monday morning, with support from clergy, police, fire services and the British Red Cross.
“As you would expect, there were a lot of tears shed,” said Tracey Clements, assistant pastor at the church. “But it just gives people a space to actually be together instead of standing outside in the cold.”
Tracey Clements said there were “a lot of tears shed” on the morning the church opened [BBC]
Clements added: “Parents are really encouraging children to light candles safely and help children put down flowers.”
“There was a little girl who wrote a book, and she came to show it to me, and we read the book together.”
Flowers, stuffed animals and messages to the family were left at the church.
The Rev. Canon Howard Gilbert said the outpouring of support from the community has been “truly remarkable.”
He said: “This is very distressing because this story is almost impossible to explain to children because of the horror of what happened, so our communities, schools and clergy will be grappling with this issue over the next few weeks.”
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