Students from Ormiston Ilkeston Enterprise Academy learnt how to save a life as part of a national initiative to teach more than 150,000 schoolchildren CPR skills.
The whole of Year 9 learnt CPR on Restart a Heart Day, an annual British Heart Foundation project which aims to equip as many young people as possible across the UK with vital lifesaving skills.
The BHF works with the Resuscitation Council (UK), British Red Cross, St John Ambulance and East Midlands Ambulance Service to deliver the training.
Trevor James, a community first responder with East Midlands Ambulance Service, said he hoped that students felt confident after the training.
He said: “If someone is in cardiac arrest, hopefully they have now got the confidence to carry out CPR. You are never too young to learn this vital skill as long as you have the physical capability and the more people who know the better.”
Student Amelia Perrons, 13, said she didn’t realise CPR was such hard work.
She said: “It’s good to know that if I’m ever in that situation when someone needs CPR, I know what to do now. It is hard work but you just have to do it. I really enjoyed learning CPR and it’s great to think that it could help to save a life.”
Student Crystal Woodall, 13, said she felt much more confident after the workshop.
She said: “I feel quite confident now that if I had to do CPR I could and that I know how to save someone’s life.”
Kierrie Furness, a healthcare assistant at Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham, helped to deliver the training.
She said: “I think it’s great that we are educating young people so that they can be confident that they have the skills to deal with a situation where someone needs CPR. I don’t think some of them realised that it’s actually quite hard work but they seem to have enjoyed it and asked lots of questions.”
Nia Salt, Principal at OIEA, said she was delighted that students had taken part in the Restart a Heart Day.
She said: “We feel extremely proud of our Year 9 students for taking part in this national initiative. It was fantastic to see them learning CPR and hopefully now they feel confident enough to use their new skills should the need ever arise. It is incredible to think that maybe one day the skills that they learnt in the classroom could help to save a life.”