Bereavement in educational settings - a guide for schools

The downloadable guidance uses the experience of schools, both locally and nationally who have been through a critical incident.

The information contained in this guidance is intended to enable schools to manage their own difficulties, drawing on their own resources and accessing additional support, advice or information from other agencies where appropriate.

This guidance offers a framework in which to operate, rather than a must do list.  It is not intended to be prescriptive or to attempt to cover all possible events.

The local authority expects to support schools in any significant incident. Schools are not expected to cope alone with incidents involving for example, death or anything that attracts intensive media interest.

A school that is well prepared to deal with tragedies is likely to be well equipped to respond to other issues relating to loss and bereavement (for example, pupils may experience death of a close relative, parental separation or divorce, or the loss of a pet) and this will also be helping its pupils towards an emotionally literate adult life.

Structure of the document

Staff in schools who have experienced the death of a pupil expressed that they needed to access some guidance as a matter of urgency to help them deal with the immediate aftermath.

For this reason, the document is structured as follows:

Section 1 - Immediate Actions Following a Sudden Death or Critical Incident: Guidance and Printable Checklist
To be used in the event of a sudden death of a pupil, staff or member of the school community and will assist schools in the aftermath.  The checklist can be completed by schools as required. 

Section 2 - Short-Medium Term Actions
Information and guidance on the short/medium term actions required by a school community.

Section 3 - A Whole School Approach to Supporting Bereavement
Including curriculum resources and online support.

Section 4 - Appendix & Resources
There are also editable templates for individual schools' use.

Audio books:

• No Matter What
• Badgers Parting Gifts
• When Dinosaurs Die - a children’s guide to understanding death
• I Miss You
• The Huge Bag of Worries
• Tough Boris
• The Memory Box

Training and resources available for the education sector:

• Supporting a bereaved pupil
• Managing bereavement: A guide for schools
• Bereavement Policy 

Additional resources:
You can find more resources, support and guidance for professionals on the Child Bereavement UK website.