Some reacted with tears, others with nervous giggles, but many just took in the news in silence.

The death of five-year-old Lynae Brown left teachers and pupils at Paget Primary School in emotional turmoil yesterday.

And today some staff are braced for another tidal wave of emotions, as fact and fiction surrounding the tragedy become hopelessly entwined. "It has been a horrendous day, but I fear the worst is yet to come,'' said deputy head Michael Charles. "Today we just took in the news -- tomorrow we will have to deal with all the rumours.'' As he spoke children and teachers exchanged hugs, united in shock and, for some, grief.

It was only in September that Lynae joined Paget Primary, a school with more than 300 pupils aged five to 12. She was in one of the two P1 classes, each one with about 24 children.

Although Lynae was a relative new girl, in such a close-knit community virtually everybody had had some contact with her. "What you find is that many of the children there attended the same nursery. It means they all know each other very well,'' said Mr. Charles.

Many of those who turned up at Paget Primary yesterday morning were unaware of Lynae's death. To help them come to terms with the tragedy, the Education Ministry sent in counsellors and psychologists.

They were there not just for the children, but for staff as well.

Parents also turned up to help out in any way they could, emotionally or physically. One of the counsellors was David Parker, who told The Royal Gazette of the differing ways youngsters dealt with death.

"In a school like this with different age levels you have different levels of maturity. Obviously children react to tragedies differently than adults, but they still feel pain,'' he said.

He added counsellors in the aftermath of such a tragedy helped youngsters to express their feelings.

"They will have questions and you will try to answer them.'' Staff, pupils pulling together He added the after-effects of a death could be longlasting on youngsters. Many years later they would remember the day they heard the news.

Head teacher La-Verne Lau said staff and pupils had pulled together magnificently. "Everybody is in a daze, but everybody has been extremely supportive of each other, we've had children supporting parents, parents supporting children, children supporting teachers, and so on.'' Mrs. Lau said seven counsellors went to the school and Education Minister Jerome Dill and his Permanent Secretary Dr. Marion Robinson had also paid a visit.

"We are all coping as best we can. We are taking things step by step.'' One teacher told The Royal Gazette : "The only thing I want you to do is be sensitive. The media should be sensitive.'' A mother waiting to pick up her three children from the school told of her disbelief. "I came in this morning, at about 10 a.m., to help out. There is a strange atmosphere in the school today. Everybody is offering their support.'' She added: "My son was friends with the girl, although I haven't spoken to him about what happened. We are all choked up. I just feel for the relatives of the girls. I'm a mother and I feel for the mother of the little girl.''