Scottish Catholic Observer

ARCHBISHOP Philip Tartaglia has rewarded the bravery of Cumbernauld schoolchildren who helped out in the aftermath of a bus crash at Our Lady’s High School.

The archbishop presented archdiocesan medals on Tuesday March 21 to staff, pupils and parents who went above and beyond the call of duty to rescue the schoolchildren from the overturned bus on Thursday February 9. Archbishop Tartaglia be-stowed the archdiocesan medal on two members of staff, Paul McGregor and Mary Mone, on S3 pupils David Shearer and Dayren Hunter, and on Helena Connelly, who was a parent helping at the scene.

Headteacher Danny McNulty said he was ‘tremendously proud of the way the school came together that day.’

“These five really went above and beyond,” he said. “So our school chaplain  asked for them to be nominated for an archdiocesan medal, and we’re delighted the Archbishop was able to come out and do that. The catering manager, Mary Mone, fed the whole school. We had to keep all the pupils in, and all the emergency service people as well,” he explained.

“Teacher Paul MacGregor and the two pupils were first on the scene and started pulling kids out of the bush and the parent, Helena Connelly, is a nurse who left her work when she heard what happened and came to the school at once to help until emergency services arrived.” The ceremony was held to show gratitude to those that helped on the day of the school bus crash. The bus was carrying more than 40 pupils and crashed and caught fire outside Our Lady’s High School.

Five children were taken to hospital after the coach careered down the verge, but thankfully nobody was seriously injured.