Tragic drowning breaks hearts at Titchfield High
Counselling provided to students struggling to cope with drowning of schoolmate
Published:Tuesday | September 23, 2025 | 12:11 AMGareth Davis Sr/Gleaner Writer
Portland:
A sombre mood hung over Titchfield High School in east Portland on Monday, as students and teachers mourned the death of 18-year-old Vijay Popley, upper- sixth-form student who reportedly drowned while swimming at a beach in Port Antonio, Portland, on Sunday.
It is understood that Popley, along with other students from the school’s track team, went swimming at the popular Bikini Beach when he got into difficulties and drowned, despite the efforts of other students to try to save him.
On Monday, dozens 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 at this time that 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 added.
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 – perished 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.
In the meantime, principal Richard Thompson, who was deeply affected by the latest incident, told The Gleaner that he was unable to provide a statement or give a comment at this time, noting that the tragedies are becoming unbearable.