Grief support in schools essential, says volunteer

Jane O'Riordan said schools needed to do more to help bereaved students through their grief

A bereavement volunteer has backed a campaign to introduce measures in schools to support pupils experiencing grief.

On Monday, charity Winston's Wish launched its campaign encouraging schools to implement bereavement plans after conducting its own research which suggested the majority of these students did not feel supported.

There is no mandatory bereavement policy in schools or training for teachers and Jane O'Riordan, a volunteer at Cruse Bereavement Support, said it could be hard for children to understand death.

The Department for Education (DfE) said it had updated the curriculum "to give teachers clear guidance on how to best support pupils with bereavement".

"I have been petitioning on social media for a while, even though it turns people off and people are quite scared about it," Ms Riordan told BBC Radio Suffolk's Sarah Lilley.

"I think children have the right to know and we need to be truthful when somebody dies, or they suffer a loss, on how to deal with it because sadly, as Winston's Wish says on their policy, death neither obeys the school timetable nor appears on it, and it enters the classroom without knocking."

The charity worked with and surveyed 300 young people aged between eight and 25 to work on the bereavement policy campaign.

A total of 79% rated the support they received in education at five out of 10, or less.

According to the charity, one in 29 children is bereaved of a parent or sibling before the age of 16.

Ms O'Riordan, who volunteers in Suffolk, said death was often considered taboo by adults and they struggled to talk about it with children.

She stressed it was important for schools to get training and to listen to what pupils needed.

"Grief comes in waves and to really sit with it and say, 'I am listening, I am here for you, what do you need, how can I support you?'," she continued.

"I think all children need to know that."

A DfE spokesperson said: "Every child deserves the right mental health support, particularly in times of grief, which is why we updated the relationships and health curriculum to give teachers clear guidance on how to best support pupils with bereavement."

They added that the department was expanding mental health support access in schools.