The new year got off to a high profile start for the NAFD with coverage on BBC Breakfast, BBC Radio 4 Today, BBC news online and the BBC News Channel of the campaign to encourage age-appropriate conversations about loss and bereavement, in schools, as part of the National Curriculum.

NAFD President John Adams was filmed at his Shropshire funeral home and 12-year-old Immy Leith, whom John had first met after he supported the Leith family with the funeral of Immy’s mum Kerry in 2020, was interviewed with her friends at school. She spoke about her experience of loss as part of work Oldbury Wells School is now doing to put proactive learning about bereavement into the curriculum.

The coverage also included interviews with the children’s writer Michael Rosen, author of The Sad Book, who is bringing out a leaflet to support children who experience loss, and Dr Louise Dalton, Clinical Psychologist at the University of Oxford, among others, as the story gathered pace during the day.

The coverage also sparked conversations across social media about the topic, with more than 18,000 people engaging with the NAFD about the story on Twitter alone, and provoked numerous emails from bereavement charities and educators, seeking to work with the Association on the campaign.

You can sign the petition to help get the issue debated in Parliament at https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/624185