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EYFS Best Practice - All about… bereaved children

Talking about death with young children is necessary when there has been a bereavement. Anne O’Connor explains the best ways to tackle this difficult subject
Children learn how to respond to death by observing the behaviour of adults
Children learn how to respond to death by observing the behaviour of adults

It is difficult to find exact figures of how many children in the UK have been bereaved of a parent or close family member during the pandemic, but a 2019 report by Cambridge University highlighted that more than 41,000 children under 18 in the UK lose a parent every year. If deaths of siblings are included, that number rises to at least 45,000 every year (The Guardian, 2019).

If we look at the current numbers of deaths across the UK, we have to assume that a significant number of children must have been affected, not just within the family but also through the loss of friends, neighbours and even practitioners they have known in childcare or school settings.

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