It was a cloud of sadness over Titchfield High School on Monday, September 22, as students and the school family mourned the loss of Vijay Popley, an upper-sixth-form student who is suspected of drowning at Bikini Beach in Port Antonio, Portland, on Sunday.

Police reports are that about 11:15 am Popley was among a group of eight boys from the school’s track team who went to the beach. The boys were reportedly swimming when Popley went into difficulties and drowned, despite the efforts of the other students to save him.

A report was made to the Port Antonio Marine Police Station, and firefighters, the police and local fisherfolk joined the search for Popley. His body was found around 1:35 pm.

On Monday, hundreds of students and other members of the school community, who have been left traumatised by tragedy, were provided with counselling by a team from the Ministry of Education, Skills, Youth and Information.

“We are here to give our full support as we usually do. You would imagine that at this time, they (the school population) are plunged into grief. Our senior guidance and counselling education officers are here, along with other senior education officers,” said Tanya Sinclair, community relations education officer for Region 2.

“We know that this will be a very challenging, a very difficult, a very sad time for the Titchfield High School family. It’s not the first that the same cohort of students has been placed in this sort of situation, and so we will be lending, and will be offering, our full support to help them to navigate this challenging time. It is never easy to get over any form of loss. We have our councillors; they are trained to deal with this kind of trauma. The students are still in shock, but with the relevant psycho-social support, we will help them to navigate another grief period. It is not the type of news we hope for, but it’s a part of life and we just have to provide the necessary support,” she said.

Titchfield has had to cope with a number of tragic incidents in recent years, including a May 2024 accidents in which two students—Onaja Lindsay and Jajuan Wynter—died after a taxi in which they were travelling slammed into a parked truck just outside of Buff Bay. Before that, in May 2019, student Pranjil Jasci lost his life after a minibus transporting students plunged over a precipice near Black Hill.