Donations for injured schoolchildren flood in after crash

Donations have flooded in for the families of Westlake high school students injured after a car crashed into them on their way to school.

Four Westlake Girls and one Westlake Boys high school students were injured on September 20, after a Nissan Skyline reportedly mounted the pavement on Wairau Rd and crashed into students at a bus stop.

Witnesses reported seeing the young people being flung in the air, and the car was removed from the scene with a badly damaged bonnet.

The scene was so distressing students who witnessed the incident were offered counselling.

Police this week said investigations into the crash were ongoing and would not comment further.

No charges have been laid against the driver, who was witnessed helping students after the crash.

One girl was hospitalised at Starship in a critical condition at the time.

Three weeks on, that student remains in hospital and two others have been discharged, Westlake Girls High School principal Jane Stanley said this week.

Before the school holidays the two schools held a collection for the injured students, and local businesses and community groups donated gifts and funds, she said.

"Gifts and funds raised have been distributed to the students and their families, along with cards and messages of support," she said.

The Uniform Group had replaced the students' uniforms free of charge, and PB Tech supplied three new laptops and accessories to the Westlake Girls students who had been hospitalised.

Head of education at PB Tech Stan Fosenbauer said the girls' laptops had been damaged as a result of the crash, and the company was keen to replace them.

Having access to computers would give them the opportunity to study from home and stay in touch with friends while they recuperated, Fosenbauer said.

"When I was contacted by the school, they said we have three students in hospital and we put a donation together for them. We just wanted to be the good guys here."

The laptops were delivered to the school, rather than to the students' families directly: "We didn't really want to go and see them because they have too much to deal with on their own."

In a letter to the school, Stanley said the community support had been "heartwarming" and she extended her thanks to schools who had held mufti days to raise money, and to local businesses who donated gifts.

Stanley had visited the students in hospital, and in a newsletter to the school's parents said the teenagers were "bearing up well in the circumstances".