 Andrew and Hannah were pupils at Iochdar School |
Schools in the Uists are reopening after last week's storm which claimed the lives of five members of a family. Prayers were said at Iochdar School, in South Uist, which is mourning the loss of pupils Andrew and Hannah MacPherson.
The children's mother Murdina, who was school secretary, their father Archie and grandfather Calum Campbell were swept away in flood waters.
Their funerals are due to take place later this week.
Iochdar School's head teacher Mary MacInnes said staff would draw on their own strengths and experiences to help children grieving for their classmates.
She said: "The main message I will be giving to people is what can we do as individuals, every single one of us, to make it easier for the person beside us, for the person we're in contact with and most of all how can we help the families who actually lost their family members.
"The adults in the school have been briefed to an extent. There is an amazing amount of personal experience within the staff.
"These people will draw on their own experience. Many of them have had losses in their own lives before.
"There have been accidents, deaths, drownings - everyone in this community has personal tragedy in their own lives, although not on this scale. But we will be drawing on that."
The head teacher paid tribute to the people in South Uist who had shown great fortitude in the past and would do so again.
 Archie and Murdina MacPherson, the school secretary, died |
She said: "People in South Uist are a stoic community - people of integrity - and will just be working away, moving forward, accepting the loss, celebrating the lives and trying to get on with the job that we are charged to do.
"As yet, it hasn't really sunk in that so many people have been lost in one swoop. But again, we will deal with that and accept the mystery of God's will, which is beyond recognition.
"But that's life and death is part of life. And we, as a school team and as community members, have a responsibility to those who are weaker, who are suffering more, and just get on with it really as best as we can."
Prayers were said at churches across the Western Isles for the family members on Sunday.
Urgent investment
The family were believed to have got into trouble as they left their home in two cars amid severe weather which hit the Western Isles and many other areas of Scotland on Tuesday.
The bodies of 36-year-old Archie and 37-year-old Murdina MacPherson and Calum Campbell, 67, were found on Wednesday near a causeway linking North and South Uist.
 Campaigners want better coastal protection for the causeway |
Five-year-old Hannah's body was found on Thursday and the search ended on Friday when seven-year-old Andrew's body was discovered. The Scottish Executive has been urged to make an urgent investment in the Western Isles' coastal defences following last week's storm.
Local people claim their calls for improvements to the route in South Uist have been ignored for years.
They want it raised or shielded from the sea to avoid a repeat of the tragedy.
Former councillor Mhairi Bremner said: "Concerns have been raised for many, many, many years about the coastal erosion which led to the tide coming in on this road."
Local MSP Alasdair Morrison said he was aware of concerns about coastal erosion.
 |  We have to prioritise because there are homes and families that we have to protect  |
But he said: "No-one was talking in terms of lives being lost and no-one was talking about houses being swept away."
He said First Minister Jack McConnell and Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson had both promised money would be available.
Mr Morrison is planning to meet the convener and vice-convener of Western Isles Council to co-ordinate work with the executive.
"We will do that calmly as we assess the exact nature of the damage," said the Labour MSP.
"We also have to prioritise because there are homes and families that we have to protect.
"That will be priority number one, and then we will move systematically through the other issues through the coming months and years."
An executive spokesman said �89m was available for councils over the next three years but as yet no application from Western Isles had been received.
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