Bereavement In Schools

I have debated with myself all day about whether I should add this entry to my blog. I have decided to go ahead because bereavement in school is one of those tragedies which some of us will have to cope with at some point in our teaching careers. What do we do?

Probably one of the most difficult weeks I have ever experienced, last week my school suffered a tragic bereavement. I do not want to write about the details of our loss, but I do want to share a few useful resources I have found on the web. I also want to ask you for any ideas or activities which you have found useful for helping children and colleagues cope with a sudden loss.

Cruse Bereavement Care has some useful suggestions on how to form a Planning Framework for coping with bereavement. It raises questions to consider for the school's response to the entire school community, including staff and parents. It also has a page giving examples of questions the children may ask which gives an insight into what they may be thinking.

The Child Bereavement Trust has an Education Sector page, outlining possible behaviour changes to look out for and offering some advice on what to say to the children in your class. It also links to some resources they have made and the links page has stacks of websites which can help deal with losing loved ones in specific circumstances.

The Bradford Bereavement Information Project has lots of useful and practical pages, such as Activities to help children cope. I have used Badger's Parting Gift in the past, but this site has a complete booklist for younger children as well as a booklist for older children.

There are some good resources and ideas out there. However, little seems as valuable as the friendship, support and advice of the people we work with.

Deb