At Thursby, we know that any bereavement has a huge impact on families and on children's learning. We recognise that it can be extremely difficult when you lose someone you knew and time is needed to grieve to be sad, to feel great loss and to not be fully functioning in every aspect of your life. Whether you’ve lost a family member, a friend, or a pet, you may feel a whole range of emotions and these may change regularly. Denial, anger, sadness and depression are some emotions you may experience. Children are no different, they suffer grief and need time and support to manage their feelings and to accept them. The phase 'it's ok not to be ok' is true for all grief stages. 

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 and books about grief which we hope will help your child come to terms with a loss.

Useful websites

Young Minds

https://youngminds.org.uk/find-help/feelings-and-symptoms/grief-and-loss/ - this is a great website for children, teenagers and adults. The video on this page is suitable for children in Year 3 upwards.

Winston's Wish

https://www.winstonswish.org/ - another excellent website which gives appropriate information for supporting children.

At Thursby school, we have a Bereavement policy with set protocols and examples of further support for anyone who requires it and is available on request from the Headteacher.  We also have some hard copies of books for children to take home to borrow, which may help you all as a family. 

If you are suffering a loss, please let us know- we are here to help and support you all.