The SCARF curriculum works in a holistic way to give children the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values to help them develop coping strategies, including:

• Critical thinking - including evaluating fact versus opinion and spotting 'fake' news
• Resilience in the face of uncertainty or things over which they have little or no control
• Recognising the value of sharing their feelings with trusted adults

So your SCARF lessons will already be supporting children at this time of worry.

In addition to this, there are resources on our website designed to help children to manage anxiety, some of which are free for all schools, whether or not they have SCARF:

• Coping with anxiety and building resilience in our Additional Resources page. Search Anxiety and Resilience on this page – part of our Whole-school SCARF toolkit to support children's mental health and wellbeing.
• Our free Children’s Mental Health toolkit, published for Children’s Mental Health Week and still available. Here, you’ll find lots of resources relating to anxiety and stress.

We also recommend the guidance for how to talk to children about the current situation from BBC NEWSROUND which includes a specific section on this: Advice if you're upset by the news.

There are now lots of online materials to support you with this issue. Here are a few that we've evaluated and think could be particularly helpful for teachers and parents/carers of primary-age children:

Resources specific to the current situation:

• How to Talk with Children and Young People About War - Understanding and Supporting our Refugee Children - A Free Webinar led by Dr Tina Rae
• Worrying about war and conflict - a collection of highly relevant, practical resources and strategies from Phoenix Education
• How to talk to your children about conflict and war - 8 valuable tips to support and comfort children for teachers and also parents/carers, from UNICEF
• How to talk to pupils about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine - including age-related guidance for teachers and parents/carers, from The Key
• Useful tips for helping anxious children cope: Worrying about Russia and Ukraine - useful tips for children from Childline   

Generic resources to build resilience and foster empathy:

• Spring Kindness Calendar - relevant seasonal activities from British Red Cross
• Calm Zone - specific activities to help children calm and focus, from Childline
• Mindful March calendar - ideas and strategies for being more mindful, for adults and children, from Action for Happiness

Supporting refugee children in schools (1): Free Belonging toolkit for KS2 and 3

Produced by Coram SCARF, this free toolkit will help to:

• Enable students to understand issues facing migrant and refugee young people
• Enrich school values, including empathy for others and respect for diversity
• Improve the experiences of migrant and refugee children in school

Access our free Belonging toolkit.

Supporting refugee children in schools (2): Free webinar and resources

Dr Tina Rae will lead this free webinar - How to Talk with Children and Young People About War | Understanding and Supporting our Refugee Children - on 4th April. There are also excellent resources to accompany this theme, including: 

• Refugee Support plan
• Talking About War plan
• Ukraine Refugee Posters

Interested in becoming a SCARF school?

Find out more about SCARF can help your school to provide comprehensive, high-quality and embedded PSHE (including statutory RSHE) education and sign up for our free six-week trail

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