Best Practice

War and conflict: Helping pupils to cope with disturbing world news

Pastoral issues Pupil wellbeing Mental health Safeguarding
Recent years have seen a number of international crises, including the conflict in Gaza and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. How can we help our pupils to process and cope with what they are undoubtedly seeing and hearing? Suzanne O’Connell takes a look
Image: Adobe Stock -

Pictures of war: Houses destroyed and burned during the Russian invasion of Ukraine (image: Adobe Stock)

 

We cannot – and perhaps should not – prevent our pupils from having some awareness of international crises.

The extent to which they will be exposed to these will vary enormously of course, and some pupils will certainly have seen and heard far more than they should have for their age.

However, the fact remains that we are all surrounded by the images of war and conflict at the moment, not to mention many other worrying international issues such as the impact of climate change. 

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