SUNBEAMS
Grief Support for Young Children
Training for Rainbows
Facilitators
AIMS :
• To become familiar with Sunbeams
programme
• To decide if Sunbeams would be
appropriate in our school
• To plan how Sunbeams will ‘fit in’ to
our Rainbows programme
SUNBEAMS- some
questions
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Who is SUNBEAMS for?
Do I need to be a RAINBOWS facilitator?
How long do the sessions last?
How many weeks?
When? Where?
How many children in a group?
How is it different to RAINBOWS?
RAINBOWS
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SUNBEAMS - 3-5 years +
RAINBOWS - 5- 12 years
SPECTRUM
- 12 – 18 years
Silver Linings - Crisis response programme
ALL AGES ARE USED AS A GUIDE ONLY
Many schools find Sunbeams suitable for
Foundation stage and Key Stage One
Confidentiality
• Need to explain concept of confidentiality
to parent (because of age of children)
• Coordinators and facilitators must keep
the confidence of the parent
• The programme must run in line with the
schools safe guarding policy
• RAINBOWS major obligation is to protect
the child.
Parent Meeting
• Plan meeting (s) when most convenient for parents
• Give plenty of notice of meeting
• Explain what will happen, can they bring younger
children etc?
• Make sure you are familiar with the programme
• Adapt the parent meeting to
YOUR parents!!
SUNBEAMS Weekly
Meetings
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12 meetings , same titles as Rainbows
Approximately 25mins
3-5 children in a group
Four elements to meeting-gathering,
activity, discussion, closing
• Celebrate Me concludes the
programme
Resources
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Bear and name ribbon
Tote bag??
Music CD and Sunbeams games
Puppets (make with parents)
‘A Huge Bag of Worries’ book
Shape sorter
Paints, markers: usual materials found in school
Facilitator and coordinator books
Celebrate Me Session
• Important that the conclusion of the
programme is marked in some way
• Suggested time – two hours plus
• Parent/carers need to know date at the
beginning of programme
• Plan for parents/carers who can’t attend
• Be realistic – do what is right for your
children and school
Do we need SUNBEAMS?
• YES !!!!
• Young children experience bereavement
and loss
• They may need support at this time
• SUNBEAMS uses activities familiar to
young children
• It allows a school to offer structured
support to very young children.
What do we do now?
• Meet to decide if SUNBEAMS is right for
your school
• Check what additional materials you will
need (some are the same as Rainbows)
• Who could run the programme, do we need
training
• When, Where, …………?????????
SUNBEAMS
• Lets have a go!!
• Try sessions in groups, Parents’
meeting, Sessions One-TwoThree……Twelve
• Celebrate Me Session - what could
WE do?
• What do we do next??