Helping Children Think about Bereavement: A differentiated story and activities to help children age 5-11 deal with loss

Every day in the UK, around 53 children and young people are bereaved of a parent and on average, 17 babies die just before, at or soon after birth. Each year, 3,000 children and young people die between the ages of 1 and 19 as a result of illness or accident; 6,000 families are bereaved by suicide. 4 - 7% of children will have had one of their parents die by the time they are 16. Statistics indicate that up to 70% of schools have a bereaved pupil on their books at any given time. These figures, taken from the Child Bereavement Charity's website, are for those directly affected. No figures are available for countless other lives also affected. Details surrounding death and its aftermath are not always readily talked about or well handled; death is kept at a distance and is not seen as a natural part of life. When it does happen, children need to be able to express themselves and know their feelings are a normal part of grieving. This book provides a nine part differentiated story and activities to help normalise death and allow children to develop emotional literacy to talk about it. The author along with the Child Bereavement Charity's schools co-ordinator, have written activities and notes on how to use the story to develop children's emotion literacy and prepare them for bereavement. This book also offers support for teachers while dealing with the subject, outlines how children's understanding of death develops and provides insight in to the grieving process. The story is presented at different levels for children who have mild and moderate learning difficulties; notes and commentary take account of their special needs for children who have English as a second language for mainstream children in KS1 and also KS2 (2 levels)