A father has criticised a school for announcing his son’s death to other parents before he had been told.
William Avery-Wright, 13, died after being knocked down by a 4×4 outside his school as he crossed a road to play in a rugby match.
His father, Christopher, said Worth School, near Turners Hill, Crawley, West Sussex, sent out an email to parents after William had been struck.
Then around half an hour later another email was sent to parents announcing William’s death while Mr Avery-Wright was still unaware on a train from London.
As he was on the train, Mr Avery-Wright said he started receiving messages of condolence via text from people who had received the school’s email.
William’s mother, Lisa, had already arrived at the hospital, but she was advised not to break the news of her death to her husband until he arrived.
Following an inquest into his death, Mr Avery-Wright condemned the school, saying it had acted “appallingly” and that its actions had caused “incredible pain”.
They are suing the school after claiming he should have been supervised by an adult across the road.
The Roman Catholic school, which also posted a statement on its website about William’s death, has previously said it published the information in “good faith”, but its initial belief his parents had been informed turned out to be “incorrect”.
Following the two-day inquest at Crawley Town Hall, West Sussex, assistant deputy coroner Bridget Dolan recorded a verdict of accidental death.
The coroner ruled out submissions that William died as a result of neglect, but she did say school rules had not been “adhered to”.
Outside the hearing, Mr Avery-Wright, said: “I think the school behaved inappropriately. They decided to announce to the school parents by email that William had died.”
“I think if a child dies in the school’s custody there should be reconciliation and we feel the school behaved appallingly to Lisa and me in that reconciliation.”