Exford Primary School principal thanks community for support after horrific bus crash

The Exford primary school principal has spoken for the first time since a horrific bus crash which seriously injured dozen of children last month.

Exford Primary School principal Lisa Campo has spoken for the first time since the horrific bus crash. Picture: Mark Stewart

Exford Primary School principal Lisa Campo has publicly paid tribute to the “quiet heroes”, parents, first responders and staff who came to the rescue of her students in the horrific bus crash.

In an emotional statement issued on Friday afternoon, Ms Campo said that “seeing all of these people come together at such a difficult time to help these kids has shown me the best of our community”.

“So many people from our local community, our state and beyond have raised a huge amount of money for the school so we can help our students return to their education and support their recovery.”

The accident occurred on Tuesday May 16, when the Eynesbury school bus was struck from behind by a truck on Exford Rd.

More than a dozen children were seriously injured, including a number who suffered life-changing injuries, including amputations.

“Saying a mere thank you in the face of something like this seems so inadequate,” Ms Campo said.

Dozens of children were seriously injured in the crash. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

“I want to send a heartfelt thank you to every single person who has reached out with love and offers of support to help us get through this difficult time.

“While I cannot get into the detail of injuries and treatment, I can tell you that a huge team of nurses, doctors, surgeons and others from two hospitals have been working day and night to help those injured in this horrific accident,” Ms Campo said.

Apart from an initial press conference, Ms Campo and her team have not spoken publicly about the day of the accident until now.

“When I arrived, there were people already at the scene, who had stopped to help. With little thought for their own safety, these quiet heroes climbed into the bus to move kids to safety and then went back to comfort those they could not move. These included passers-by, past parents, community members, neighbouring school colleagues and our amazing Exford team.

They were soon joined by the emergency services,” she said.

“We often hear people praising our first responders for what they do; seeing them in action in an emergency situation like this has left me in awe. The calm and collected way they dealt with such a confronting and complicated situation was something extraordinary.”

“We have had innumerable offers of support from organisations, individuals and schools since the accident – so many we can barely keep up with them.

Principal Lisa Campo did not provide an update on the conditions of the injured children. Picture: Mark Stewart

“I would like to publicly recognise the enormous contribution made by those tradie heroes, staff from our and other schools, mums and dads, emergency services, medical staff and everyone else who came together to assist last Tuesday,” Ms Campo said.

The principal said the past fortnight had “been the most testing of my career as an educator. It has also given me an insight into the compassion, selflessness and dedication of so many people in our community.

“Any parent knows that little nagging fear that they will one day get a call with bad news. “While I cannot possibly know what our school families are going through, I do know that hearing about that accident was the realisation of a nightmare that similarly sits in the back of every staff member’s mind – that something awful could happen to the kids we devote ourselves to helping,” Ms Campo said.

“If any evidence of this were required, our school staff rushed to help the kids on that bus. They were faced with a terrible scene and while many were affected by what they saw, they were all back on site the next morning to support our children, our school community and each other.”