KEY POINTS:
Howick College's rugby tour of England and Ireland is to continue after the fatal accident involving the team's flanker, Ross Kimpton, because "that's what Ross would have wanted".
The investigation into the 17-year-old's tragic fall in London is on hold while Scotland Yard detectives await the results of
an autopsy to be carried out tomorrow (NZT).
A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police said the results were expected on Thursday.
Ross died after he fell from a four-storey window of The Lodge hostel in Norfolk Square at the weekend. His death is not considered suspicious.
It was initially unclear if the Howick 1st XV would continue their trip but, after individual counselling sessions and discussions with the boys and their parents, it was decided to carry on, acting principal Sheryll Ofner said last night.
Ross's family, the board of trustees and parents of the footballers were all consulted and agreed to let the boys decide.
"They've had grief counselling, counselling one on one, and also a group debrief," Ms Ofner said.
"They really, really wanted to go ahead with the tour. That's what Ross would have wanted."
The decision was unanimous.
Ms Ofner said the boys and their parents knew one another very well because they had been fundraising together for the past two years.
The team had missed one game of their tour but were due to play their next match at the weekend, she said.
"When they play their game, when they do their haka, they're going to be thinking of Ross.
"They've already talked about the fact that they're going to remember him when they do it."
Those at home have also been thinking of Ross. Yesterday, between 50 and 60 teenagers, who are in the first week of their school holidays, went back to the college, where two classrooms have been set aside to allow students a place to grieve.
Some of the teens stood outside, red-eyed and clutching at cellphones, sending text messages to friends.
Ms Ofner said in one classroom students wrote letters to Ross's family and the 1st XV in Britain.
"In the other room they were just sharing their memories of Ross and just supporting each other, so that was a really good thing for us to have done."
Nearby, at the Kimpton family home in Brookby, a huge amount of support from family and friends was evident.
More than a dozen cars were parked around the house on the family's dairy farm. Other people arrived throughout the day to pay their respects.
Family and friends seated around a circular picnic table outside the home did not wish to speak to the Herald yesterday morning, saying they wanted time to come to grips with their loss.
News of the tragedy had stunned the surrounding community, with those who live nearby expressing shock as word spread yesterday morning.
Even those who did not personally know the family expressed distress over the accident.
One woman said she and her children were "shocked" and devastated for the Kimptons.