Secondary Schools and Pupil Loss by Parental Bereavement and Parental Relationship Separations

The paper presents the findings of an investigation into how secondary schools addressed two areas of loss: the relationship endings and separation of pupils’ parents, and the death of pupils’ parent.The study was undertaken through in-depth interviews of key personnel in secondary schools. The results showed how schools tended to respond to these losses, where they sought support from and how they perceived the two types of losses to be different. In addition it showed how and where schools addressed loss in the curriculum; the advantages of having loss addressed in a policy; and the need to ‘support the supporters’.