Arena bomb survivors offer to help Southport teachers

Young survivors of the Manchester Arena bomb have been sharing their experiences to help teachers support pupils traumatised by the Southport knife attacks.

The Bee the Difference project is led by Dr Cath Hill, who survived the 22 May 2017 blast which killed 22 people and was set up to help future survivors of similar attacks.

Hill said young people had "made a difference" by sharing their stories with teachers of pupils affected by the Southport knife attacks in which three girls died on 29 July 2024.

She said they offered "hope and practical ways teachers could support those children in Southport" such as not having to keep telling new teachers their story, which can be "retraumatising".

In addition to the 22 people who were killed in the blast at the end of an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, more than 1,000 people were injured.

More than 200 young survivors took part in the Bee The Difference research led by Hill, from Lancaster University, with the National Emergencies Trust charity.

They did so to get a better understanding of how to better support young people affected by attacks.

Hill, who also founded the Manchester Survivors Choir, told BBC Radio 5 live the lived experiences of the young survivors had helped teachers "on the frontline of dealing with traumatised children".

She said bringing teachers in Southport together had helped in and of itself.

"Although Southport compared to Manchester is a much smaller geographical area, they weren't helping and supporting each other as much as you think might happen," said Hill.

"So just actually bringing them together to have that peer support was really helpful."

The young people also gave concrete examples of things that worked for them in the aftermath of the Manchester attack.

She said it was also "so important" that they also gave examples of things that did not work or "they would love someone to do better next time".

Hill said sharing their stories also offered teachers support "so they know what to expect" as well as "sharing some hope".

She said in "dreadful situations" it sometimes feels like hope "is not there, especially in the early days".

"Time does help," she added. "It doesn't get rid of that trauma, but it does help."

She said teachers left with some really good ideas about what they can do to better support pupils.

"For example, a lot of people in the Bee the Difference in Manchester research talked about constantly having to tell new teachers about their situation.

"One of the things the incredible teachers - one in particular - in Southport has put in place is those young people can now be tracked if they want to through their school career [so] they don't have to keep retelling their story, which has the potential to retraumatise them."

She praised the "courageous" young people who shared their traumatic experiences and have "made a difference" for future survivors.

"They might be really small things but validating those young people's experiences, making sure they are supported at the different stages - like anniversaries - just knowing they have heard that from lived experiences has been so important."

Yasmine Lee, who has just qualified as a teacher, was 12 when she was injured in the arena bomb.

She was one of the survivors who mentored teachers in Southport and said she felt lucky regarding the support she had received at school as she lived in Manchester and her teachers were able to access training.

"It made my adjustment back to school easier but hearing that other people had awful experiences because they [lived] far away or their school didn't have the resources is horrific," she said.

Lee said she wanted to get involved in the project so if "something horrendous like that is to happen again that actually my lived experience can help somebody else in the future".

She said: "I think it can be so unpredictable the way you are and how you feel.

"It is like a roller coaster. It isn't like you have a bad week and then you are fine forever. It's up and down."

Lee said survivors having the choice of telling the teacher about their experience or "having that passport to take through with you means you have not had to have that conversation because having those conversations initially can be really tricky and bring up a lot of emotions".

"Having that passport prevents that," she said.

Alice Da Silva Aguiar, nine, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and six-year-old Bebe King were murdered in the Southport knife attacks at a dance workshop in July 2024.

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