Support with Loss and Bereavement

It can be extremely difficult when you lose someone you knew. Whether you’ve lost a family member, a friend, or a pet, you may feel a whole range of emotions. Grief is an emotional response to this loss, and is a process rather than an event. It may affect how you feel physically, mentally and socially.

On this page, we have provided a few links to useful websites, to support parents and carers. We have also researched, and provided links to books about grief which we hope will help support families during these difficult times.

Year 6 Lessons

Michael Rosen's Sad Book

Grief and Loss

Young Minds This is a website for children, teenagers and adults. The video on this page is suitable for children in Year 3 upwards.

Winston's Wish This website gives appropriate information for supporting children.

Simon Says Simon Stanley was a 37 year old teacher from Southampton when he died from cancer. His wife Sally found there was no bereavement support locally for their two small children. Their experiences have led to the establishment of “Simon Says” as a registered charity. Simon Says aims to support Hampshire children and young people up to the age of 18 years who have a significant person in their life who has died or is dying.

Papyrus PAPYRUS is the national charity dedicated to the prevention of young suicide

Time to Count

Time to Count - Supporting children after a parent dies by suicide.pdf

Books that Support Famililes Experiencing Grief and Loss

Below are links that introduce books that may support families experiencing grief and loss. These clips provide an insight in regards to their content. Familes may want to buy or borrow these books to read to their children to enable them to talk more about grief and loss.

Michael Rosen's Sad Book An honest and open account of grief and the all-consuming feelings of sadness that accompany it, based on the author’s own experiences. This beautifully written book shows us how someone copes with grief, and helps us to realise that grief will not disappear one day but will become a manageable part of life.

Sad Is Not Bad: Life is a process of letting go: letting go of conditions we cannot control, letting go of times, places, and experiences, and letting go of people as they move out of our lives. The pain of leaving those you grow to love is only the prelude to understanding yourself and others. Sad Is Not Bad is a memoir based on "Dear Jerry" letters written to the author's husband after his death. While there are many ways to process grief, as a professional grief counselor, she had always recommended writing as a therapeutic tool. Experiencing sadness, one of a myriad of normal feelings, is part of the healing process; thus the title. You will also learn the ways in which private, personal ritual can bring comfort during the grieving process. Sad Is Not Bad - It's How We Grieve After We've Loved will help you embrace your grief journey with the hope for healing.

The Heart and the Bottle 'The Heart and the Bottle' is written by Oliver Jeffers and is about love and loss. This explores how disorientating grief can be for a young mind. A little girl is shown the world by her father, or father figure, until one day he is no longer there. Unable to cope, she places her heart in a bottle and ties it around her neck. It is not until she has her own child that she is open to the joy and curiosity of the world again. A beautiful book that helps children to understand that in order to experience the joys of life, we must also allow ourselves to feel pain and loss.

Badger's Parting Gifts read by Susan Varley Badger is so old that he knows he must soon die, so he does his best to prepare his friends. When he finally passes away, they are grief-stricken, but one by one they remember the special things he taught them during his life. By sharing their memories, they realise that although Badger is no longer with them physically, he lives on through his friends.

The Memory Tree by Britta Teckentrup Fox lies down in the snow and passes away. The other animals in the forest each recount happy memories of Fox. As they do, a beautiful orange plant starts to grow in the place where Fox died. This is an excellent book to help us reflect on what we love and miss about those who have died and a reminder that death is a natural part of life. The books starts just after 1 minute so you may wish to start here.

The Goodbye Book by Todd Parr For younger children - Through the lens of a pet fish who has lost his companion, Todd Parr tells a moving and wholly accessible story about saying goodbye. Touching upon the host of emotions children experience, Todd reminds readers that it's okay not to know all the answers, and that someone will always be there to support them. An invaluable resource for life's toughest moments.