Last Thursday, Graham Hollows, 48, who was currently head of Stoke Mandeville Combined School, collapsed on school premises.

Mr Hollows, who worked at John Hampden for 23 years, leaves a wife and young children, aged five and two. The couple were expecting their third child when tragedy struck.

Alan Haigh, head teacher at John Hampden, said: "He was very well respected and loved by the people he worked with and those he taught. He was a very kind man and he helped a lot of individual young people who were having some difficulties with school.

"On one occasion a boy was being bullied and he gave him the strategies to move on and cope with issues of life. That sort of story is indicative of the kind of chap he was and that individual remembers the help he gave him.

"He was a great colleague and friend and had a lot of humour in the work with children and because of that there were lots of happy memories along the way."