FOI Request - Bereavement Support in Schools

Request 101002642894

1. Is there a local authority wide bereavement policy in place for schools to follow in the event of a pupil losing a loved one?

2. If there is no council-wide policy, what proportion of individual schools within your area have a bereavement policy in place?

3. Is specialist bereavement training available to teachers?

4. Are there specialist bereavement support/counselling services available for schools to refer struggling pupils to?

Response 16-12-2020

1. Yes
2. N/A (there is a Council-wide policy)
3. Yes. Seasons for Growth is a programme that is designed to help children and young people deal with loss and change. There are facilitators available in schools, in the central ASN, SEBN and EP teams, and in the youth engagement team. As part of our commitment to supporting children and young people with loss and change there is a rolling programme of training to ensure that 2 people in each school are able to deliver the intervention. Also, the Educational Psychology team deliver training on understanding the grieving process and supporting children and young people through this.

There are two training sessions available to staff to support pupils who have experienced a bereavement:
- 'Not too Young to Grieve' - This increases staff awareness of the issues surrounding bereavement in young children.
- 'Teenage Grief, participants learn about the needs of bereaved teenagers and develop their understanding of how to support bereaved teenagers.

4. Yes, in addition to the support available from the school nursing service and the Seasons for Growth programme, children and young people have access to bereavement support /counseling from the Moray SEBN team and the Educational Psychology team.

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