Education Bill

Memorandum submitted by Sheringham Woodfields School (E 74)

1. Sheringham Woodfields School is a Complex Needs School in Sheringham in Norfolk. We decided to teach Emergency Life Support (ELS) Skills in our school because we feel that it is vital to teach as many students as possible the skills to save a life.

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 that may be having a heart attack.

3. Sheringham Woodfields School teaches ELS as part of the British Heart Foundation Heartstart training scheme.

4. Sheringham Woodfields School currently teaches ELS to approximately 12 children aged 11-19 per year.

5. They are taught ELS for 6 hours per year as part of Life Skills andIndependence skills or their ASDAN accreditation programme.

6. Sheringham Woodfields School believes that ELS should be made a compulsory part of the National Curriculum in England because nothing is more important than the ability to keep another person alive for the few minutes necessary for the emergency services to arrive. We would like to encourage the Committee to amend the Education Bill to make this possible.

7. Students at this school have felt an enormous sense of achievement when they realise that they have the skills to save a life as well as enjoying the mix of film clips and practical activities.

8. One student from this school was given an award for bravery while in KS3 for using the skills learnt in Heart Start to save a life on the Norfolk Broads.

9. The Heart start materials are easy to use and teachers delivering the course have the support of members of our local paramedics to support the sections on CPD. The course has been generously resources and help is always available when needed.

March 2011