Managing a sudden death

Child Bereavement UK is acutely aware of the very real challenges schools experience when they are faced with the sudden, unexpected death of a pupil, a parent or a member of staff. Many head teachers have shared with us that they feel ill-equipped to respond in the immediate aftermath of these sudden and often traumatic incidents; they are concerned to do their best, but are unsure as to how they should inform staff and pupils and what support to offer.

Child Bereavement UK has therefore greatly valued the opportunity to work with London Grid for Learning, drawing on their experience in online technology, to create a resource that can enable schools to access information and guidance simply and quickly around the key considerations when responding to a death in the school community. How schools manage these events is so important; bereaved children and young people tell us that the way their school responds at such a difficult time is something they never forget.

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It is a privilege to work with such a committed and highly skilled range of partners to bring innovative new learning resources and teacher support materials to the wider educational community in the UK. Our three nominations cover an eclectic range of topics and feature the latest techniques in integrating augmented and virtual reality into everyday teaching and learning. It is particularly important to have secured the recognition for the partnership activity with Child Bereavement UK; sadly this is a challenging issue for many schools across the UK each and everyday. Our work with our Child Bereavement UK partners to help teachers, children and parents with managing sudden death within a school community is entirely in keeping with our charitable aims at LGfL and our aspiration to help all children succeed while promoting well being for the whole school community.

Bob Usher, LGfL Content Manager

Shortlisted as a finalist for the 2018 Education Resources Awards
Highly commended at the Bett Awards 2019

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Post 18 Education: Bereavement Awareness Session - follow-up resources

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