The early days of bereavement can feel like being uprooted from your normal life. Like the fence with a No Entry sign in the photo, it marks the divide from what you knew. But there’s a gate— with proper support, a bereaved child can return to school life and begin to navigate their grief.

This blog offers schools ideas for supporting a newly bereaved child's return to school.

Through a connection with the Centre for Wellbeing in Education at St Mary’s University, London, two of my boys were asked to reflect on their experience returning to school after their dad’s death. This reflection was featured in The Art of Dying Well podcast.

Presented by James Abbot, the podcast aims to make death and dying something we can talk about openly without discomfort or fear.

To better support bereaved children in school, we must first hear from those who know what it is like. The podcast hears from recently bereaved children, adults who were bereaved as children, and those working in education as to what they think is important or most impactful at such a difficult time.

This is the first blog in my series of guides for widowed parents of primary school-aged children.

With a surprising statistic that 80% of teachers receive no training in how to support bereaved children (Child Bereavement UK 2018), I suggest a guide for a conversation between a surviving parent and their child’s new class teacher at the beginning of a new school year as a positive step towards supporting a bereaved child at school.

I have had the privilege of writing this blog for Pedagogy in Action through St Mary's University, Twickenham, London.

Their mission is to advance education through continuing reflective practice and professional development in all educational contexts.

Best practice is to speak openly and honestly with children about death using clear and direct language. As educators, we should view it not as a difficult conversation, but as an important one.

This blog post provides educators with guidance on the language to use around death in schools and offers suggestions for preparing to have those important conversations.