Responding To Tragic Events

Guidance for Schools, working with the
Psychological Service

A tragic event is an incident, usually sudden, which involves the experience of personal distress to a level that has the potential to overwhelm individuals. These incidents are wide-ranging and unpredictable in their form. They include bereavement as a result of the death of a member of the school community  or a serious incident which impacts upon the school community.

Cognition, learning and behaviour can all be affected by grief and by exposure to stressful and traumatic circumstances, so it is appropriate that school staff are aware how to support pupils who are dealing with a Tragic Event.

Whenever a tragedy occurs, children, like many people, may be confused or frightened. Most likely they will look to adults for information and guidance on how to react. School staff can help children cope first and foremost by establishing a sense of safety and security. Generally children recover from a Tragic Event without the direct intervention of outside agencies – the empathetic response of family, friends and trusted adults (this includes school staff) provides the resilience to see a child through this painful process.

To help staff understand how the Tragic Event might be impacting on children and young people there is general information on bereavement and grief reactions within the Guidance. Grief reactions can occur not only in relation to a bereavement but at times when we are dealing with significant changes or losses, therefore information contained within the Bereavement section of the Guidance might also be useful when dealing with a serious incident.

When dealing with a Tragic Event a flexible and sensitive range of responses is required, based on sound psychological understanding of the variety of reactions and needs of both children/young people and adults at such times. Advice within this Guidance aims to support staff and to give them the confidence to appropriately respond to children and young people at this time.

The guidance also provides information and checklists to help a school through such an event or to help with forward planning. It provides information on practical steps to take when dealing with a Tragic Event.

The Tragic Events Guidance for Schools is available below along with with supplementary information relating to the current pandemic and an advice leaflet.