To think it’s a lot?

It sounds like a lot but it’s not really when you think about the shock, disruption and grief that the whole staff team will be going through. It’s a couple of days until the end of term, I’m sure they will do more to move forward after the holiday. Although schools very much work in their years, so I wouldn’t expect it to really be put behind them until September.

It depends on the head and his relationship with the school and the students.

I worked as an outside provider in a school with an absolutely amazing head teacher. He was so involved and invested in every student, and genuinely loved. He died unexpectedly and tragically at the school one evening and was found by his deputy.

The students and staff were devastated. I can't remember how many days the school was closed, but it had to happen. The senior management team had to meet for crisis planning, staff counselling and training. Of course they closed for the funeral, because all of the staff and the students were there. Supporting those kids was one of the most difficult things I've had to do. So if the staff and kids needed extra time or a tree or a fundraiser to feel better, I sure as hell wasn't going to begrudge them that.

Was this at Rickstone's?

It’s too much.

The books of condolence are lovely, one day off is understandable, two is a bit unreasonable (especially given how much schools are always telling us how damaging days off are 🙄). Flowers are fine for a bit but should have been in an appropriate place like school office, not at the gate, and the deputy head really needs to tell the caretaker to chuck them away now.

The gofundmes are a bit uncomfortable but I guess it depends where the money is going, if to widow / kids that’s great, if to build a commemorative thing that’s a bit odd.

The 2 school services, special assembly and tree planting is too much. They should have just done one of those. They aren’t allowing the kids to move on.

People deal with death in different ways. Some find this kind of fuss comforting. Others would find it very upsetting. Children should be able to go to school without walking past piles of rotting flowers and constantly being reminded of the death of a person who was not friend, not family, and they didn’t even know very well.

I think the headteacher would be doing a real facepalm over all this.

That may be your experience - mine differs.
I have experience of many LAs over many years having worked in local, regional and national roles - they all have specialist teams for staff member deaths.

I have been involved with both staff and multiple pupils deaths in the last month in 2 different LAS

Which LA do you think doesn't provide this?

In England in both maintained schools and academies the LA provides a specialist team including education psychologists who drop varying and go to a school to support

IME any support from the LA is often wildly different in reality to what is promised, regardless of the circumstances.

2 days off might be 2 day revision for some students but it is 2 days of lost learning and being on the streets for others.

Don't worry OP, I'm sure everyone will stop making such a fuss after the holidays. How inconvenient it must all be for you.

Re the GCSE and A Level students, they shouldn't be learning anything new at this stage. Two days off is two days' revision.

A month ago
In England in both maintained schools and academies the LA provides a specialist team including education psychologists who drop varying and go to a school to support

I think that we all know which school it is.
It is a very large MAT with access to significant resources.

If this is the head who died overseas tragically recently then I do think it's a bit different. There will be lots of shock involved.

Given that for many of the children it is a year with exams such as GCSEs and maybe A levels, I agree with you.

I guess that the school will apply for special consideration for exam marking because of the death, given the nature and scale of mourning.

Was it a head who's been there a very long time so lots of ex-pupils will be wanting to share condolences?

I can understand the books of condolences, the flowers, the assemblies. People set Go Fund Mes up all the time for things like this. The tree is a nice touch

I could understand the 2 days off if it was the funeral and then the last day of term but this is a little odd. I think a full day is fine though, teachers and pupils aren't going to want to carry on like normal after a funeral, especially as for most children it will be their first experience with such things.

I cant imagine a whole staff will attend those- even if a 2 day event.

It does sound like a lot but, fundraising aside, for many children it’s possible that this is the first death to impact them and they could be quite upset by it even if your child isn’t.

Could the two days be for a cremation and memorial service? Especially if the ashes are being released quite a long way away.

I don't think the books of condolence are a problem, flowers left are to be expected and 1 assembly seems reasonable but anything else is a bit OTT. 2 days off for a funeral is definitely ITT. When I was teaching my best friend died and I was told I couldn't have 1/2 a day off to go. I did go and pointed out I had not had a single day off for 4 years and never requested any time off for funerals before but I was going for my best friend who had 2 little children I wanted to be there for.

Is it in England? LA maintained or academy?

Unusual to close the school. I was an LA officer for many years and have been to many schools for a day/half a day with LA colleagues to keep it open whilst staff went to a funeral of a staff member (including Heads)

I have also had to step up several times to lead a school after the sudden death of a Head

From an academy point of view- had a staff death recently at one of ours and again staff from the Trust came in to cover during the funeral to allow staff to attend

That's excessive yes. Lovely for the family but disruptive for every child in the school. They haven't weighed things up great.

@Jellycatspyjamas no I'm not necessarily saying that, but the HT is the top dog and responsible for the quality of the workplace.

As a parent, I'd be annoyed if a poorly performing school was doing all the above.

So a persons life is more or less valuable depending on the quality of their workplace?

It’s hard to know whether it’s excessive without knowing the circumstances - an unexpected death of a well regarded colleague would impact the staff team significantly, and the students are likely to struggle too. There may be logistics you’re not aware of. A slow run into Easter isn’t a bad thing necessarily.

Depends on how good the school is in my mind.

For a brilliant school, I'd say that was ok. For a mediocre school, it's excessive.

You mention the body being repatriated, is it possible that the HT belonged to a culture where the funeral process happens over 2 days or more? That might explain the 2 day closure.

It may also be that they need time to plan next steps as the sudden and unexpected loss of a HT means there will be a huge amount of work that needs to happen very quickly, involving multiple departments and external agencies, to get whoever is taking their place up to speed and ensure a smooth transition.

Perfectly reasonable to have a second book of condolence at the church so members of the public can pay their respects.

The flowers will need to be cleared, yes but that may not be top of anyone's priority list just now.

I work in a school and although I can completely see why you might regard the response as OTT, I am imagining if this was our HT. Leaving aside the huge operational and logistical challenges, the many competing issues that would need immediate attention from those of us on the Leadership Team, for several of us we would also be grieving the loss of a very close friend. A change of HT is a big thing for a school community even when it happens in a planned and predictable way. In these circumstances it would be incredibly difficult.

One for the funeral and one for the hangover

I dont think it sounds like too too much really but probably a little more than necessary. I would hope over Easter the flowers can be removed and as its a natural break in school afterwards things will be back to normal.