An online tributes page has enabled the Oxford Mail to provide a unique service for a group it rarely serves in print: children and young teenagers.

The tragic story of Kyomie Williams, a 12-year-old who died of meningitis, has been a major news item for the paper during the past week.

Its coverage has included two front page splashes and a spread on the family’s heartache, the response of school friends and advice for parents on detecting the disease.

As part of the coverage on its website, oxfordmail.net, the paper invited anyone who knew Kyomie to post a message in memory of her.

The result, which can be seen here, was a flood of touching comments.

Many have been written by pupils of Cheney School, in Oxford, where Kyomie studied.

The paper published a number of the messages in-paper as well, deciding to present them unedited – in the spontaneous ‘textspeak’ in which Kyomie’s friends felt comfortable expressing their grief.

Editor Simon O’Neill said: “This has been an awful story which has affected hundreds of people at the heart of our community.

“In the past, we would have been limited to telling a tale in print, mostly to the adults.

“The online tributes board enabled us to involve many of those most directly involved: Kyomie’s young friends.

“Like our forums for junior football, this has brought us into contact with a big section of our community which does not traditionally interact with the local paper.

“Such things have to be handled sensitively and judged case by case, but it has turned out to be a truly useful service to our readers and their children, and I am very glad we did it.”