News Guidance produced to help bereaved pupils


An average of two children per school lose a close relative every year, and yet four out of every fi ve schools do not have a policy on how to support them, it has been revealed. A survey of 100 schools carried


out by the Amy & Tom project, an initiative run by the road safety charity Brake and Co-operative Funeralcare, also found that of the 20 per cent of schools with a written policy on helping bereaved children, three quarters did not provide comprehensive advice for teachers. To tackle the problem, the


organisation has produced free guidance to be distributed to 11,000 teachers across the UK. Helping Suddenly Bereaved Chil-


dren aims to give teachers an insight into children’s understanding of sud-


den death, how they may react, and how they may express their grief. Mary Williams OBE, author


of the guide, said: “A suddenly bereaved child always needs love, support and care to enable them to


Charity aims to raise awareness of dyslexia training


A campaign urging schools to apply for government-funded dys- lexia training has been launched by a national charity. The See the Difference cam-


paign, run by the Dyslexia and Special Learning Diffi culties Trust, aims to raise awareness with posters and press advertisements directed specifi cally at schools and teachers about how best to deal with dyslexic children. It also alerts parents, teachers


and local authorities to a £10 mil- lion government training scheme for 4,000 teachers, designed to ena- ble them to better identify dyslexia and related learning problems. The campaign comes after


research undertaken by the Trust revealed that at least 10 per cent


of children have dyslexia or asso- ciated learning diffi culties. Of this number, schools fail to identify two thirds. The findings also claim that


with early recognition and action, young people are more likely to succeed. The research said that more


than half of the children who failed their SATs had features of dyslexia. In areas of deprivation, all the dys- lexic or associated special learning diffi culty children failed the tests. According to other statistics,


fewer than one in 10 teachers feel secure about teaching a dyslexic child, with four out of fi ve wanting more training. Dr John Rack, director of the Dyslexia and Special Learning Dif-


fi culties Trust, said: “The ground- breaking report, Identifying Children and Young People with Dyslexia and Literacy Diffi culties, written by Sir Jim Rose and pub- lished in June 2009, made many excellent recommendations on how best to support pupils strug- gling to learn. “We would like to see every


school make the most of this opportunity and, together with the Training and Development Agency for Schools, we want to encourage


and support teachers coming for- ward for training through our See the Difference campaign.” Teachers wanting to access the government-funded training must have QTS and be working in Eng- land, and need to apply and enrol by March 2011. For more on the campaign, visit


www.thedyslexia-spldtrust.org. uk and for more on the funding, visit www.tda.gov.uk/teachers/sen/ specialist_skills/register_your_ details.aspx


RE suffers due to lack of support and training


The teaching of religious education (RE) is no better than “satisfac- tory” in many schools because of inadequate support and training for teachers, according to an Ofsted survey. The inspectorate says that


because the curriculum for RE is determined locally, there is wide variability in the quantity and quality of support provided to schools by local authorities and relevant advisory councils. Inspectors visited 94 primary schools, excluding faith schools,


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and found them uncertain about whether Christian material should be investigated in its own right, as part of understanding of the reli- gion, or whether it should be used to consider moral and social themes out of the context of the religion. The survey said it was common


for teachers to use Jesus’ parables to explore personal feelings or to decide how people should behave, but not make any reference to their religious signifi cance. In one example, a teacher began a lesson by talking about the concept


of miracles before telling the story of the “healing of the blind man”. The session involved talk-


ing about how people cope with being blind and how lucky the children were to have their sight. According to the inspectors, it was “unclear whether the purpose of the lesson was to help the pupils understand what it feels like to be blind or if it was meant to extend their understanding of miracles”. Despite the criticism, the inspec-


torate found that pupils usually saw the value of RE in terms of


how it contributed to their under- standing of, and respect for, reli- gious and cultural diversity, and they often commented on how it helped them to understand others and contributed to a more harmo- nious society. The report also recommends


that schools should ensure that RE promotes pupils’ spiritual develop- ment more effectively by allowing for more genuine investigation into, and refl ection on, the impli- cations of religion and belief for their personal lives.


Characteristics of bereaved children in the school environment:


• Nine out of 10 had mood swings


• Seven out of 10 saw a drop in performance


• Six out of 10 struggled to join class discussions


• Half showed increased shyness and vulnerability to bullying


Source: Amy & Tom Project (survey of 100 schools)


grieve and have the best chance of a full and happy life. This guide will empower teachers and other adult carers to provide suddenly bereaved children with the vital support and understanding they need.”


Elsewhere, one undertakers in


the West Midlands has produced its own handbook to help teach- ers in local schools work with bereaved children. Daniel Ross Funerals of Walm-


ley, in Sutton Coldfi eld, has also produced posters to assist schools in a range of scenarios including: telling students when a member of the school dies; informing staff when a student dies; loss issues for pupils with SEN; and dealing with faith and cultural issues. For more information on the


Amy & Tom Project, including the teachers’ resource, visit www.amyandtom.org. Schools in the West Midlands can fi nd out more about Daniel Ross Funerals by visiting www.danielross funerals.co.uk


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