Primary school introduces grief lessons

A Nottingham primary school has introduced lessons to teach its pupils about death.

Bluecoat Primary Academy - run by the Archway Learning Trust - is piloted the new addition to its curriculum with the support of East Midlands funeral firm A.W. Lymn.

The lessons, which will be taught in schools across the trust, are designed to equip children with the tools to recognise, talk about and handle grief throughout their lives.

Benjamin Jackson, the school's head, said he hoped the lessons would "lead the way" for other educators to do similar.

The lessons, called "Healing hearts: navigating bereavement, grief and loss" will initially be taught to children in Key Stage 2 and 3.

Rebecca Laird, a Year 5 teacher at the school, said: "What we're asking the children to understand is it [loss] is going to happen at some point to them, it is something they're gong to experience.

"We want them to be able to leave school fully aware of that fact but also fully aware of how to handle that."

The teacher said death was a "bit of a taboo" topic, adding parents who had struggled with death and grief could "often feel reluctant to pass that on to their children".

She said educators had a "duty of care" to children not to "hide behind" difficult topics.

"As society is changing, as we're more honest, as social media is more prevalent, we need to be able to equip children with the skills to handle those things and grief is something everyone is going to deal with at some point at some scale," she said.

"The aim of the lesson is not to scare the children, we're not going to go into details of death.

"What we're aiming to teach the children is how to handle grief."

Pupils will also have the chance to ask questions and raise any concerns during and after each lesson.

They will be supported by a mentor who is specifically trained in children's mental health and will be present during the lessons, Ms Laird said.

The school carried out a consultation with parents before introducing the lessons and received "positive feedback", according to head teacher Benjamin Jackson.

Sian Hampton, the education trust's chief executive officer said: "We're proud to be taking decisive action on such an important issue and to be leading the way for other trusts in shaping happy and resilient future citizens."

A.W Lymn's managing director, Matthew Lymn Rose added: "It's been a privilege to work alongside the passionate educators at Archway to bring this monumentally important pilot to classrooms."

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