Grief and loss in school: prep for RSHE curriculum changes
Suicide, grief and growing up: what children need from the adults around them
- An estimated 26,900 parents die each year in the UK, leaving behind dependent children – that’s roughly one every 20 minutes (Child Bereavement UK)
- 79% of young people rated the support they received from school as 5 or less out of 10 (Winston’s Wish)
These sessions support schools to engage with suicide, grief and bereavement in a way that is age-appropriate, responsible, and emotionally safe. Caroline draws on her own lived experience and real-world insight into how death by suicide is experienced by young children over time. She demonstrates how adult responses, at different stages, can either support growth or deepen harm. With grief, loss, and bereavement becoming explicit RSHE curriculum content from September 2026, this session offers schools the opportunity to understand what will work, and how to put effective structures in place.
You’ll gain:
- A deeply personal account of one young family’s experience of loss by suicide, shared with care and purpose
- Greater confidence in holding supportive conversations with children and young people
- A clearer understanding of vulnerability, risk, and protective factors as they show up in everyday school life
- Insight into how children’s needs, questions, and behaviours change as they grow
- Practical guidance on responding to concerns, and knowing when and how to escalate
- Thoughtful signposting to specialist child bereavement organisations, and further learning opportunities
- Format: Live virtual sessions, or in-person sessions tailored to school context – normally 60 minutes
- Audience: Senior leaders, DSLs, pastoral and teaching staff, and most importantly, parents
- Cost: From £750 per session (no maximum group size)
- Facilitator: Caroline Roodhouse