Nicolas was a student at Leanyer School, a keen student and a personable young man. One night, the home he shared with his family was torched as someone tried to break in.
While other family members, mercifully, were spared, Nicholas lost his life in that fire.
The poem I wrote, I read as part of words shared at his funeral. It was the saddest of days for our school community.
EDUCATION, A LIFE FORCE 
Only 8 years old. So tragic. I mean, it would be tragic at any age, but he was so young.
Only a few days before this sad happening, the children in Nicholas class wrote me letters as I was in hospital having a knee reconstruction. He wrote me a lovely letter. I had it copied and framed the two copies and gave them to his parents. The original I also framed and it is one of my sad pieces of school memories. We had a memorial with photo and engraved message attached to a rock and placed in our schoolyard, close to one of the entry points to our school.
What a lovely remembrance you created.
When the memorial was dedicated to Nicholas’ memory, local media covered the service and also devoted the paper’s editorial the following day to Nicholas.