In a recent article in Friday (The Issue, April 4), a headteacher described the impact on her school of a pupil’s sudden death from meningitis. On top of dealing with their own grief, staff tried to support each other and the pupils as well as deal with media interest and keep the school running. The problems everyone experienced are exactly those that Grief in School Communities addresses, including preparing and implementing critical incident management, creating a supportive school environment for grief, developing partnerships with outside agencies, placing loss and grief as normal life experiences and recognising the school’s need to create conditions conducive to positive mental health outcomes.

Louise Rowling brings to this work long experience of involvement with loss and grief in schools. She shows how we can help schools prepare and plan for death or other critical events, and gives us the information we need to do this effectively.

If you are involved in supporting or counselling children or young people, work in schools or colleges, or are interested in how organisations respond to death, bereavement or loss, this book will be of real interest and use to you.

Francis Taylor is a school counsellor and manager of Lancashire County Council’s schools counselling service