Red Cross Pack a Success
Maureen Turner, William Brookes School Shropshire

"We tried out the Life. Live it. first aid education programme with our Year 8 students and it has been more successful than I could ever have envisaged. The kit is a complete resource that fitted all the needs of our school. Our Year 8 students studied all ten topics, but it is flexible and adaptable enough that schools can deliver just one or two lessons. It provides lesson plans, PowerPoint presentations, videos, practical materials, and a quiz that provides both a learning assessment and a good deal of fun. It even includes an award to give to students. The basic first aid messages are simple and the kit provided everything we needed to deliver the programme ourselves. As my staff and I are not first aid experts, we have had opportunities to develop together with the students. Students were encouraged to develop their problem-solving skills and improvise – for example, by making slings from ties and jumpers. As one student commented, they were unlikely to be carrying around a first aid kit when they came across an accident. During the first aid lessons, the students often had to think through situations and make decisions about the right thing to do. For example, they had to consider how they would manage their emotions when faced with someone who is bleeding profusely when really all they wanted to do was be sick! Similarly, we looked at how they would communicate support and confidence to reassure their casualty, however scared they may be feeling themselves. Life. Live it. will stay in our curriculum for Year 8. Having piloted the resource, I think it is very important that all our students have the Award when they leave our school. We have seen over this programme how the students have changed in their attitude towards situations that, in the past, they may have crossed the road to avoid. All the teachers, including myself, now feel more capable of dealing with first aid situations. I am immensely proud of our students and the journey we have taken together." Maureen Turner is the head of personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education and citizenship at William Brookes School in Much Wenlock, Shropshire.