School mourns death of 'lovely' science teacher

A SCHOOL is in mourning after staff and pupils were told of the "tragic death" of a 32-year-old science teacher.

Ian Bruno, 32, was a science and maths teacher at Tollbar Academy – one of sixteen Canadian teachers who came to the New Waltham school to teach in September 2012, as reported.

However, on Thursday, pupils were informed that Mr Bruno had passed away.

It is believed the alarm was raised when he did not turn up for work and he was later found dead in his home.

The details of Mr Bruno's death are not yet known, but it is believed it was due to natural causes.

The coroner's office has confirmed that an inquest has not yet been opened.

Tollbar principal Stephen Moon said: "Mr Bruno was a valuable member of the teaching staff and we are very sorry to hear about his tragic death.

"The thoughts and condolences from all the staff and students go to his family and friends at this very sad time."

Rumours have circulated the school that Mr Bruno was in an accident but Tollbar has assured the Grimsby Telegraph that there is no truth behind them.

Messages of condolences have also flooded social networking sites, with pupils posting "RIP Mr Bruno" and offering sympathies to his family.

One pupil wrote on Twitter: "RIP Mr Bruno, the cutest Canadian teacher that ever existed."

Another posted: "He was a lovely teacher and will be missed."

One student wrote: "He was the happiest teacher ever."

On Facebook, a former pupil wrote: "Although we only had you as a cover teacher, the memories will stay.

"You were really calm, funny and had a dry sense of humour."

Before his death, Mr Bruno had posted on Facebook that he had "said goodbye to a lot of Year 11s with a bunch of handshakes".

He had only been in Europe since September – but had made the most of what turned out to be the last few months of his life.

Mr Bruno had posted pictures of a trip to Amsterdam in May and Nottingham in April, where he posed next to a statue of Robin Hood with a friend.

Earlier in April, the rock music fan went to Liverpool to do "a load of Beatles stuff".

In March, his parents had visited and they had gone to a family wedding in Crewe.

Mr Bruno went to Scotland in February, seeing the sights, including Edinburgh Castle, posting "drank Scotch in Scotland – another tick off the to do list."