200 STUDENTS at a school in Rednal got to learn essential life-saving skills this week as part of a training scheme by St John’s Ambulance.

The 14 and 15-year-old pupils at Colmers School and Sixth Form College in Rednal received training over a day’s course, becoming qualified first aiders, learning how to manage an emergency incident, how to deal with choking and bleeding, as well as asthma attacks, burns and scalds, and bone, muscle and joint injuries.

The students also learned how to put someone in the recovery position and how to administer CPR.

Teacher Tom Charlett, who organised the training, said: “First aid is an important life skill – that’s why we try to offer every student at Colmers an opportunity to learn it during their time with us. It’s definitely an important part of their all-round development and they never know when they might need to use those skills, either at school or at home.”

Nick Pitt, regional schools training co-ordinator for St John Ambulance in the West Midlands, is encouraging other schools to train their students.

He added: “Recent media campaigns have highlighted the need for more people to learn CPR. We believe that CPR and other first aid skills should be taught in schools so that everyone has a chance to learn. First aid skills are easy to pick up and can be the difference between a life lost and a life saved in an emergency situation.

“Colmers School are giving each and every pupil the opportunity to be a lifesaver. Training 200 students in two days is a large undertaking for us but it will be worthwhile to have another 200 people equipped with life saving skills.”

To book school training or find out more about St John Ambulance, call 0121 237 3879, write to west-mids-training@sja.org.uk or visit sja.org.uk.