INSET TRaining

Our training is designed to reassure and empower educators, equipping them with the knowledge and tools to support a bereaved child in school.

Tailored to meet the specific needs of each school, our training is delivered in three key parts: a brief online preparatory course; an interactive in-school workshop; and follow-up guidance to help embed support of bereaved children into your school’s culture.

The 3-part training includes:

  • Learning how grief affects children and recognising behaviours that may indicate a need for further support or compassionate intervention

  • Developing skills to have important conversations about love, loss, death and grief with children - whether they are bereaved or not - and with their families

  • Facilitating whole-staff conversations on creating a proactive space where grief education and death literacy are embedded

online prep

To reduce the time spent just listening during the in-person session, we have taken a ‘flipped classroom’ approach and produced some short tutorial videos to allow your staff to get up to speed on Emma’s story and why bereavement training is an all-staff need.

interactive workshop

An expertly delivered workshop designed to facilitate the full range of ways in which schools can support a bereaved child.

follow-up discussion guides

We provide guidance on fostering a whole-school environment and ethos that promotes positive emotional wellbeing for all.

online Prep course

Reading and/or watching short preparation videos on this website: total viewing/reading time: 30 mins

We have designed a course for your staff to work through in their own time or time allocated during the school day as part of a staff meeting/INSET.

There are 6 sections to ask your staff to work through:

Introduction Look After You Why Me?

The Marfleet Foundation Why Our School? Meeting That Need

in-school workshop

In-School Workshop delivered after school or as part of an INSET day: c. 1.5 hour

Using Slides and an accompanying workbook, I deliver an interactive workshop where we explore the professional role your staff have to support a bereaved child - including teachers, teaching assistants, learning support assistants, your Senior Leadership Team and admin staff.

We cover what children aged 3 to 11 most commonly understand and feel about grief as well as the range of possible behaviours they may present in school. Throughout this training, I focus on and explore the relationship between YOU, the bereaved CHILD and the SCHOOL.

follow-up guidance

Follow-up work for a staff meeting led by your Senior Leadership Team: c. 45-60 mins

This SLT-led session develops your staff’s learning from the previous two parts of the training to examine how your school creates a whole-school environment and ethos which promotes positive emotional wellbeing for all children.

We provide guidance slides and accompanying workbook pages for this session which is aimed to truly embed support of bereaved children into your school’s culture.

Concluding work from all three sessions can drive and inform school policy and how you communicate with stake holders on the crucial issue of all children’s good mental health and wellbeing.

My husband, Tom died aged 42 when our sons were 8, 6 and 3 years old. I have created The Marfleet Foundation in Tom’s memory and to channel my energy into making something positive out of so much pain. From my experience as a class teacher and Deputy Headteacher of a London primary school, I know the small things you can do in school and I know the big things that matter. I aim to reassure and empower your staff to make a positive impact on the lives of the young people you know and care so much about where and when it really really matters.

I currently have one son in primary school and two sons in our local comprehensive secondary school. I continue to learn about life and how grief affects my family as we navigate their childhood into adolesence. Tom’s death is a major part in the narrative of their lives but I want them to own their stories and never be afraid of how others will respond to them. My hope is that what we offer in The Marfleet Foundation will go someway to help other children also achieve this goal.

I look forward to hearing from you,

Emma Marfleet

Childhood bereavement is the sharp end of loss

Knowledge learned and skills explored in our training will help all children experiencing a form of loss in their lives.

All in person and online training materials are copyright © The Marfleet Foundation 2024.

Video and onsite training are designed using current pedagogical best-practice in order to enable effective learning for all. Please let us know ahead of any training sessions if the staff attending have differentiated learning needs.