Pupils at St Columb Minor School recently learnt what to do in a medical emergency when instructors from The Training Centre gave a session on basic life support.

The group of nine and ten year olds received instruction on assessing a casualty and resuscitation techniques during a two hour workshop with first aid professionals from the Newquay based training company.

As members of the school’s Trailblazers group, the children regularly take part in extra-curricular lessons and activities designed to boost confidence and develop life skills.

During the session at St Columb Minor School, the children were taught what to do if they discovered someone unconscious. They were taught to look for potential dangers surrounding a casualty, seek a response from the victim and raise the alarm by calling Boy performs mouth to mouth resuscitationfor help.

Senior instructor Stuart Parry then took them through the fundamentals of basic life support, such as clearing the airway, performing CPR (cardio pulmonary resuscitation) and putting the casualty into the recovery position.

“We wanted to give the children an awareness of the steps they can take to help save someone’s life,” said Mr Parry. “This is an important life skill for everyone, but especially for these children who live so close to the sea.”

The Training Centre, based at Lusty Glaze Beach, provides first aid and educational training courses as part of Cornwall College. The centre has extensive experience of working with schools all over the country for its outdoor education and public services programmes, so tailoring the basic life support course for the Newquay youngsters was not a problem.

As part of the workshop, the children had fun practicing their newly learnt skills on resuscitation dummies provided by The Training Centre.

Upon completion of the course, the students were given certificates to show they had received instruction in basic life support as part of the Heartstart scheme, which is a British Heart Foundation initiative designed to teach members of the public what to do in a life-threatening emergency.

Group teacher Helen Yelland commented: “The course was a great success. The children had fun but they also learnt skills they can use in their lives. Hopefully this will give them the confidence and awareness to handle an emergency situation if they are ever faced with it.”

* The Training Centre provides professional first aid courses for groups and individuals across Cornwall and beyond. For more information about the courses, please visit www.Training-Centre.org