Healthy Schools: bereavement

Please check the resources below and contact your school educational psychologist (EP) if you know a child or young person who has lost someone and may need support. 

Find all Healthy Schools resources here

Bereavement in children and young people

• This 2-page document developed by Grief Encounter will help give you an understanding of how children of a certain age conceptualise and express bereavement.
  • Children's Concepts and Response (PDF, 180KB)
• The Winston Wish charter (external link - PDF, 850KB) gives some valuable advice about how to support a bereaved child.
• Spot the signs and get some tips on supporting a bereaved student with the above PDF and this mentally healthy schools resource (external link) from the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families.
  • Bereavement Loss - Anna Freud (PDF, 115KB)

• This detailed school guide to managing bereavement from Child bereavement UK (external link - PDF, 7.5MB) provides information and support.
• Watch our presentation below from the Emotional Wellbeing Forum on bereavement and loss. It covers different conceptual frameworks around grief and loss, types of bereavement and contains useful signposting.
  Running time: 35 minutes approx.

Back to top

Recommended books

• Is Daddy Coming Back in a Minute? by Elke Barber and Alex Barber
• What Does Dead Mean? by Caroline Jay and Jenni Thomas
• The Day The Sea Went Out and Never Came Back by Margot Sunderland and Nicky Armstrong
• Michael Rosen’s Sad Book by Michael Rosen and Quentin Blake
• A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness and Siobhan Dowd

Back to top

Looking for support

• The Childhood Bereavement Network (external link)
• Child Bereavement UK (external link)
• Grief Encounter (external link)
• Winston Wish (external link)
• Widowed & Young (WAY) (external link) offers support for people who've been widowed and their children
• The Compassionate Friends (external link) is a helpline for bereaved parents 
• Young Minds (external link)
• Macmillan Cancer Support (external link)

Back to top

More resources

If you need advice specific to bereavement during the pandemic, please check our COVID-19 page.

Back to top