The Educational Psychology Service will offer support to Wolverhampton schools and services in the immediate aftermath of a critical incident or major disaster, as part of the Local Authority’s response.
This support is not dependent on a setting entering into a service level agreement.
The Wolverhampton Critical Incident Pathway should be followed and further details can be found in the document Coping with Crises (a Guide for Schools and Services for Children & Young People within the Local Authority).
Below are a range of documents aimed at supporting your response to critical incidents. These include documents to help staff, families and young people support and understand following loss, bereavement and traumatic incidents, example scripts using an emotion coaching framework that can be used to support people following a critical incident, and template letters that education settings can adapt and use in their communications with families. If you have any further ideas of documents that would be helpful to your setting, please get in touch with us, as we plan to update these resources regularly.
Guidance Documents
General guidance for school staff when supporting pupils (any age) following loss/bereavement
How a bereaved child/young person may respond
- Early Years (Age 0-2)
- Early Years (Ages 2-5)
- Primary Years (Ages 5-8)
- End of Primary/Secondary (Ages 9-14)
- Older Adolescents and Young Adults (Ages 15-25)
General guidance for school staff when supporting pupils (any age) following a traumatic incident
General guidance for parents/carers when supporting your child/children (any age) following loss/bereavement/traumatic incident
A Guide for Young People (11-25 years) following loss/bereavement/traumatic incident
Starting difficult conversations
Emotion coaching scripts to support conversations with children/young people following critical incidents
Starting conversations following a loss, bereavement or traumatic incident can be difficult. This document contains scripts that can be adapted and used to start these conversations to help children and young people understand their feelings and feeling supported by those around them.
Template Letters
Template letters to be shared with the wider school/setting community
This document contains template letters that you can use to support your communications with your wider school community, including sharing difficult news with parents/carers and a template which also provides parents/carers with information as to how they could support their child following a critical incident.
Useful Resources
Signposting to useful resources
Contains signposting to useful websites and other resources (books, podcast, practical activities and SEND-specific support).