Education Bill

Memorandum submitted by The Priory City of Lincoln Academy (E 68)

1. The Priory City of Lincoln Academy is a secondary school in Lincoln. We teach Emergency Life Support (ELS) skills because we are committed to students’ personal development and to delivering as wide a range of education as possible, as well as ensuring that all students understand their responsibilities to the community.

2. ELS skills are the set of actions needed to keep someone alive until professional help arrives. They include performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), dealing with choking, serious bleeding and helping someone who may be having a heart attack.

3. The Academy teaches ELS as part of the British Heart Foundation Heartstart training programme to approximately 140 Year 10 students each academic year within their Personal Development programme, involving 6 hours training.

4. The Priory City of Lincoln Academy believes that ELS should be made a compulsory part of the National Curriculum in England because, after 4 years of delivery, we recognise the benefits the programme offers. We would like to encourage the Committee to amend the Education Bill to make this possible for all.

5. Students within the Academy see the BHF ELS programme as worthwhile training and enjoy it immensely. The Heartstart programme crosses the curriculum boundaries, incorporating healthy schools and areas of other subjects, ie physical education, science, medical studies, health and social care, land and environment as well as personal development.

6. There have been 2 particular occasions in the last year when ELS training has been most beneficial. These followed road traffic accidents where students and staff have been instrumental in delivering emergency life support to injured persons; if it were not for the Heartstart training these pupils may not have been instrumental in the recovery of the casualties.

7. The delivery of the training is carried out by teaching staff within the Academy, who are also Year 10 form tutors. They recognise the importance of the programme and endorse the training, often staying behind after school to carry out refresher training. The resources provided by the BHF fully support the delivery of the training.

March 2011