Primary school pupils learn vital lesson in first aid

Summerlea School, in Windsor Drive took part in the Big First Aid Lesson, in conjunction with St John Ambulance.

Children in key stage two watched a live first aid lesson, which was being streamed to schools around the country simultaneously.

The early years and key stage one children attended a special 999 assembly led by Mrs Lesley Patridge, who used to work for the police service.

School business manager Jo Maxted said: “The children learned important life skills during these sessions and their awareness of how we can help keep ourselves and keep others safe was raised.”

On the same day Arun Wellbeing and the NHS were also invited into the school to undertake health checks on the staff.

The Big First Aid Lesson is St John Ambulance’s annual free first aid, streamed live and lasting one hour.

This year, the celebrity host was Claudia Winkleman and a total of 410,000 students tuned in to join the St John Ambulance.

The charity said: “Our interactive programme combines first aid training and 999 scenarios with amazing real life stories, as well as plenty of opportunities for students to join the conversation.”

The Department for Education has been encouraging schools to buy defibrillators, via the NHS at a reduced price, and Summerlea has recently taken the opportunity to purchase a defibrillator for the school.

Head teacher Helen Morris said: “We hope we will never need to use it but it is potentially a life-saving piece of equipment and therefore one we wanted to invest in in the best interests of our school community.”

She said the Government recognised it was voluntary for schools to have a defibrillator on site but Summerlea felt it was a good opportunity to make the investment.

Don’t miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live.

Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be amongst the first to know what’s going on.

1 Make our website your homepage at www.littlehamptongazette.co.uk

2 Like our Facebook page at Littlehampton Gazette Facebook

3 Follow us on Twitter @LhamptonGazette

4 Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here.

And do share with your family and friends - so they don’t miss out!

The Littlehampton Gazette - always the first with your local news.

Be part of it.