Girl threatens to jump

Press, 20 November 1982, Page 6

Girl threatens to jump

A pupil, aged 13, was coaxed off a second-floor ledge at Avonside Girls’ High School at lunchtime yesterday by a policewoman and a school counsellor. She had climbed out on to the ledge through outward opening windows which made it difficult for the police and members of the school staff to get to the distraught girl. The girl was on the ledge, which is the equivalent of four storeys high, for 45 minutes. She threatened to

jump several times. . The Fire Service and St John Ambulance Brigade went to the scene but were not required. Senior-Sergeant W. Holmes paid a special tribute to the' Para Rubber Company which had a truck-load of new mattresses at the school within six minutes of the request’s being made. The mattresses were put on the area where the girl would have landed had she jumped. “Frankly, I was astounded at the firm’s . speed,” he

said. Mats from the school gymnasium were also put on the ground. Members of the Fire Service stood by with nets in case the girl jumped. Senior-Sergeant Holmes, said the counsellors and school , staff were most cooperative during the ordeal. School counsellors and police youth-aid workers will follow up the girl’s case. Her reasons for climbing on tb the ledge were believed to be from pressures outside , school.