THE HEAD of Passmores Academy, Vic Goddard has made a heartfelt tribute to former pupil, Marcel Jayden, who passed away at the weekend.

Mr Goddard said:

“When I heard of the death of Marcel over the weekend it was impossible to believe. Our enduring memory of him will be his smile; he flashed it regularly and could charm anyone with it. I had the pleasure of spending a week with Marcel on a residential trip last year, prior to his final exams starting, and he was great company.

“We pride ourselves on getting to know our young people here at Passmores but that does mean that when something horrible like this happens it hurts our community badly.

“It would be much easier if we were an exam factory and saw our young people as a way of boosting our own fortunes in a league table or Ofsted but we know that we must offer far more than that – as the saying goes ‘people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care’. The fact that his lovely sister decided that she wanted to be in school today, as she knew that we would look after her, is a testament to the relationship she has with her peers and the staff.

“Our thoughts are with Marcel’s family at this tragic time and they already know that all they need to do is ask and we’ll be there to help”.