WEYDON School celebrated National Restart a Heart Day on Tuesday by inviting St John Ambulance and the Red Cross, into the school to teach the children life-saving skills.

As Weydon is home to two defibrillators this seemed like the perfect opportunity to teach the children how to use them in the case of an emergency.

School nurse Louise Lawson-Syer said: “The sessions lasted an hour and we were able to train 60 students from years eight, nine and 10.

“We applied to do this training just before the summer holidays and were very pleased to be accepted. The academic side is very important to Weydon and we get excellent results in our GCSEs every year.

“However, we also recognise that it is equally as important to equip the students with other skills and experiences so that they leave Weydon as well-rounded citizens. To potentially be able to save somebody’s life is an amazing skill to have.”

All of the students thoroughly enjoyed the sessions, and were able to have fun while taking each individual task very seriously and with care.

The school is hoping to make this an annual event, with hopes of training even more students throughout the year.

In some European countries, this training is mandatory in schools. According to Louise currently in the UK, less than one in 10 people survive a cardiac arrest:

“If we achieved the same survival rates of countries like Norway (25 per cent), where CPR is taught in schools, an additional 100 lives could be saved each week – the equivalent of approximately 5,000 every year.

“The South East Coast Ambulance Service has so far trained over 8,000 students over the last week, easily beating their target of 5,000.

“It was amazing how quickly the pupils picked everything up, I would be more than happy to be in their capable hands if I needed assistance.”