Students at a Flintshire high school learned crucial life-saving techniques as part of an annual campaign to boost CPR rates amongst the general public.

All Year 7 students at Ysgol Treffynnon took part in the recent 'Restart a Heart Day', an international initiative that is organised in the UK by The Resuscitation Council UK along with the British Heart Foundation, British Red Cross, St John Ambulance, and the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives.

In Wales, the Save a Life Cymru campaign is run by staff and volunteers from the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust (WAST).

The aim of the day is to raise awareness of cardiac arrest and educate members of the public about how to help restart the heart of someone who has suffered a cardiac arrest, giving them lifesaving skills and the confidence to use them.

Students practice their CPR skills on dummies.

Students practice their CPR skills on dummies.

According to The British Heart Foundation, around 30,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests happen every year in the UK and, sadly, less than one in 10 people survive. By performing CPR, the chances of survival can more than double.

Ysgol Treffynnon organised four sessions over the day supported by volunteers Julie Moxely, John Goggin, and Steve Blakesley from the local Welsh Ambulance Service First Responders Team.

The students learned how to make the phone call to the Ambulance Service for help, and were taught what to look for, how to protect themselves, how to perform CPR and the importance of its use to save lives. The students were told where the school defibrillators are located and who to call to get them unlocked, and also had a hands-on session learning about the scenarios they could face and how to work by themselves or with others to save someone's life.

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As part of the training, the students used mannequins provided in special 'Call Push Rescue' packs from the British Heart Foundation.

Vicky Bond, science technician, arranged for the school to take part in the national training day, the only school in Flintshire to participate this year.

She said: "We are proud to support this important event every year and provide our students with vital lifesaving skills and the confidence to use them if needed in the future.

"It was a fantastic day; all the students were fully engaged and wanted to learn as much as possible. They worked really well with the volunteers, absorbing all they could offer.

"This year was the first year we had staff participating as well, to help the students learn, which made the day even more worthwhile. These skills are crucial, and the fact that they were all ready to learn a new skill or improve on the skill they had learnt from elsewhere, was just brilliant.

John Goggin explains how to do CPR to the students.

John Goggin explains how to do CPR to the students.

"I would like to thank Julie, John, and Steve for all their support and for sharing their expertise with our students. I know the students have all benefited hugely from this experience and I am very proud of them all.

Mr Goggin said: " We really enjoyed the four Restart a Heart sessions at Ysgol Treffynnon where we worked with 88 students on the day.

"The children were fully engaged in the sessions; there were many relevant questions, and the practical sessions were completed with great energy and enthusiasm. Throughout the sessions they were polite and attentive and also worked with each other collaboratively. It was also very encouraging to see the staff taking part in the sessions alongside the students.

"I would like to thank Vicky and the staff we met for their welcome and hospitality and also the efforts to prepare the training room and IT equipment."