Dear Parents/Carers. I'm sure that you were shocked and saddened by the tragic events on St Thomas Street North last weekend. This tragic incident may raise questions from our children about this. Questions that are not easy to answer. To help with this, we have worked in partnership with Oldham Council and Werneth Primary School to provide you with information and support about how to talk to your child about what happened.

This can be found in the letter below.

Thank you. 

Dear Parents and Carers from Werneth Primary School and St Thomas’ Werneth Primary School,

The letter is being sent from both the Werneth Primary School and St Thomas’ Werneth Primary School Headteachers- Mr Bell at Werneth Primary School and Mrs Knowles and Mr McGrath at St Thomas’ Werneth- following the tragic events in our community last week.

Like everyone in the Werneth Primary School and St Thomas’ Werneth Primary School, I am sure that you share the shock, sadness and sense of grief about the tragic events on St Thomas Street North last Saturday.

The Werneth Primary School and St Thomas’ Werneth Primary School staff teams share this sorrow and would like to offer support to children and families affected.

We are all aware that many children in the community will be aware of what happened and will be aware of the sad news that a member of our community has lost their life.

This may raise questions from our children about this. Questions that are not easy to answer.

To help with this, Werneth Primary School and St Thomas’ Werneth Primary School have worked in partnership with Oldham Council to provide support about how parents/carers can help children that are dealing with bereavement.

This document explores:

-how to talk to children of different ages about bereavement

-coming to terms with bereavement

-the grieving process

And

-has lots of useful links to other websites that can be used to support adults and children.

A link to the Oldham Council parent guide can be found below:

Click here for the information

Mr Bell, Mrs Knowles and Mr McGrath would also encourage the parents/carers of any children that have been particularly affected to speak to members of school staff. There may be support available in school and/or school may be able to direct families to support available from charities and other external agencies.

It is important to recognise that grieving will take people through many different emotions - the process will take its natural course. It is accepted that when we grieve we can go through different stages moving backwards and forwards through these stages or perhaps not going through all of them.

By sharing this information, we hope to help parents and those affected through this difficult time.

Yours sincerely,