Impact of a cancer diagnosis
There are around 375,000 new cancer cases in the UK every year.* 1800 of these are in children, and 600 of those children are diagnosed with a brain tumour. We know the impact that a diagnosis of cancer can have on families, in particular children. It is important to give children space to talk and ask questions, and to validate their feelings. If you are facing your own cancer diagnosis or that of one of your children, this will be a stressful and devastating time. You do not have to face this alone. Engaging the support of your children’s school can really help.
School and cancer
A family cancer diagnosis can have a big impact on a child’s education. School attendance, peer relationships, being able to concentrate in class, and the ability to be supported with homework can be affected. A supportive adult can be invaluable in connecting home and school.
Empowering your children’s school
Step 1
Tom’s Trust is the UK’s only charity dedicated to providing mental health support to children, with brain and central nervous system (CNS) tumours, and their families. In 2024 we launched our Sibling Toolkit which was designed to help key adults, such as those working in schools, help the siblings of children with cancer. Since we launched it, we have had feedback that it is also of use to those in schools in supporting children through a parent’s cancer diagnosis. So, our first bit of advice is to download our free Sibling Toolkit.
Step 2
Schedule a meeting with your children’s school – their teacher, or form tutor, or even Head of Year. Take along the Sibling Toolkit and pass it on to them. Talk about your situation, give them an idea of any timeline of surgery / test results, and agree on how you will communicate moving forward. If you are facing the diagnosis, it may be worth taking along a family member or friend so they can be a point of contact in case you are not feeling up to talking with them while receiving treatment.
Step 3
Armed with the Sibling Toolkit and the above information your children’s school is now able to put a plan into place of how they will offer support. Ideally your children will have one main person they can go to, someone who knows the full picture. Although it will be a good idea to have a few of the teaching and support staff understand what they are facing. Teachers and / or support staff can meet regularly with your children and work through the activities in the Sibling Toolkit, which also provides useful talking points and advice on how they can best support children facing a family cancer diagnosis.
Tom’s Trust Sibling Toolkit
This blog includes extracts from our Sibling Toolkit which was designed to help key adults, such as those working in schools, help the siblings of children with cancer. Since we launched it, we have had feedback that it is of use to key adults in supporting children through a parent’s cancer diagnosis also. It’s a free to download 40-page manual which has gone through extensive feedback, written by leading clinical psychologists, led by Dr Sarah Verity, Paediatric Neuropsychologist at the Great North Children’s Hospital, and funded by Tom’s Trust. If you are facing a cancer diagnosis in your family, please do download the Sibling Toolkit and share it with your school. We really hope it helps.
* Cancer Statistics for the UK (cancerresearchuk.org)