Last updated at 18:07, Monday, 21 January 2013

PRIMARY school children as young as six have literally learned a skill for life after completing a Heartstart course.

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South Walney Infant and Nursery School has so far trained 34 of its Year Two pupils in the basics of emergency life support.

Office manager Gail Scott said the school believed it was never too early to teach children what to do in an emergency.

She said the advice would help the children think clearly should they ever come across someone bleeding, choking, unconscious or having a heart attack.

“It was just something that we thought we’d like to teach the children,” she said. “It’s quite basic, but will help them to know how to deal properly with various situations.

“It’s a half-hour session, because that’s long enough for them during their lunchtime, and they really take it on board.

“After they’ve done the session they’re really excited about it as I think it empowers them because if they do come across a situation like that, they know what to do.”

Staff members Mrs Scott, class teacher Colleen Fagan and higher level teaching assistant Janice Callister completed Heartstart courses last year so they could teach the children.

“First off we tell the children to take anything that could be dangerous to the person out of the way and then to find out what exactly is hurting,” Mrs Scott said.

“Then they are told to call 999 and describe as best they can the location and if they don’t know the address, to describe the surrounding area. Then they are taught to keep the person warm with a blanket or coat and wait for the ambulance to arrive.”

Mrs Scott said the school planned to extend the lifesaving scheme to include its younger Year One students.

First published at 17:30, Monday, 21 January 2013
Published by http://www.walneylocal.co.uk