On Friday the 15^th October all of Year 8 learned CPR as part of their “Year 8 Be Safe and Healthy Day”. They joined millions of children up and down the country who also took part in Restart a Heart Day.

CPR is now part of the health education curriculum for secondary school pupils aged 12 and over in England. The workshops were taught by the Yorkshire Ambulance Service, who have already provided life-saving training to more than 150,000 young people since they started their Restart a Heart campaign in 2014.

The workshops taught pupils how to identify whether someone is in cardiac arrest (has collapsed and stopped breathing normally) and how to perform hands-only chest compressions to give the person their best chance of survival before the arrival of an ambulance.

As 80% of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests happen in the home, you can be reassured that they will be learning skills that may one day help someone close to them.

Your child/children may have questions about some of the related topics and themes that were explored at school, and we would encourage further discussion at home wherever possible. For more information, we would recommend visiting the Yorkshire Ambulance Service Restart a Heart website at www.restartaheart.yas.nhs.uk.

Not only did pupils study CPR, they also had the opportunity to study a variety of other important topics as part of their PSHE curriculum entitlement. Guest speakers from The Samaritans, Sexpression, Alcoholics Anonymous, The Cross Project and Change4Life all delivered workshops on healthy minds, healthy lifestyles and healthy relationships. As always, we would encourage further discussions at home in relation to these areas and would recommend visiting the websites below for further information should it be required;

https://www.samaritans.org/

https://sexpression.org.uk/

https://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk/

http://www.crossproject.co.uk/

https://www.nhs.uk/change4life

Year 8 pupils were a credit to the academy during their ‘Be Safe & Healthy Day’, and we are exceptionally proud of their conduct and efforts throughout the day. Please keep a look out on the academy’s Twitter page and school website for photos and videos of the day!