Our thanks to Diana Stubbs of Winston's Wish and Tracey Bosely of Child Bereavement UK who advised us on this article. We've also relied on information from Cruse Bereavement Care.
Develop a communication strategy
You need to plan ahead for how to communicate while:
- Remaining sensitive to the needs of your staff
- Protecting the privacy of the affected staff member/pupil and their family
- Controlling the potential spread of rumours
You won't share news of a staff member's or a pupil's serious illness with anyone outside of staff. This is to prevent undue anxiety and to maintain confidentiality. Exceptions to this would be if news has already spread through social media (see the section below on what to do if social media is ahead of you) You will share news of a staff member's or pupil's death with the school community as soon as possible
