Welcome to Barnardo’s Education Community

There is no denying that grief is a complex emotion, usually seen in response to significant loss and most often associated with death. It is important to bear in mind that grief can manifest itself differently in children and young people, than in adults.

Coping with the loss of someone or something very special to you is a big challenge and this is why children and young people feel these losses as deeply as adults do. Feelings of loss are incredibly personal and are often associated with grief.

There are a range of definitions for the word ‘Bereavement’ but, in essence, it refers to the experience of losing someone (or something), and describes the period of time after a loss, especially after the death of a loved one, when people grieve and mourn.

Trauma is the natural response to events that may happen in a person's life. Whilst the experience of a significantly catastrophic event often causes trauma, more subtle experiences can result in emotional trauma too.

In order to achieve the best outcomes for children and young people, those who work with them need to be well supported and it is important that their wellbeing is taken seriously. We are committed to supporting educators so they can support their students effectively.

We know that the life of an educator is very busy so we have put together a range of worksheets to support you in facilitating difficult conversations with children and young people around general wellbeing, particularly when focussing on the key areas such as trauma, loss, grief and bereavement.

This section shares practice that has been shown to be effective and includes case studies from settings and schools. If you would like to share your practice, please get in touch with us.

Our blogs are written by the Barnardo’s Education Community Team on a range of relevant subject areas. We hope that you find them interesting and if you would like to contribute your own blog post, please do get in touch.

This section hosts the resources we have brought together or developed in response to key national events relating to loss, grief, bereavement, trauma and wellbeing.