EPS critical incident support to educational settings

A critical incident may be defined as any sudden and/or unexpected incident or sequence of events which causes trauma within a school community and which overwhelms the normal coping mechanisms of that school. The event may be a single occurrence or a sequence of events.

Warwickshire’s Educational Psychology Service offers support to head teachers and senior leadership teams within all Warwickshire Local Authority educational settings. The approach taken is based on research into best practice and is founded on helping schools manage the immediate aftermath of an event, including advice and support around communication, practical arrangements and managing emotions.

Incidents are considered ‘critical’ where they are sudden, traumatic and/or unexpected and may include the sudden death of a member of staff, pupil or parent of a pupil; an accident; criminal act including violent attack within school or the community; fire at a school or local community; illness; or suicide or attempted suicide that affects members of the school community.