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From Fortnite to fires: teaching children safety lessons

From Fortnite to fires: teaching children safety lessons

Friday 14 June 2019

From Fortnite to fires: teaching children safety lessons

Friday 14 June 2019


Nearly 700 year six pupils have been tested on a series of safety skills, by going through different scenarios put on by local experts to ensure they're safe when danger strikes.

Organised by the Guernsey Child Accident Prevention Group, the Safety Calling Challenge is held over eight days each June.

From learning to make a 999 call in the case of a road accident, to escaping a fire in their house, to keeping their online data safe, he children all work together in small groups, in seven different realistic accident prevention scenarios to learn all about safety.

safety calling

Pictured: The first aid course used to focus on CPR, but this year put the spotlight on choking. 

Event leader and Children and Young Peoples Healthy Lifestyle Worker, Tom Cheshire, said: “Approximately 2,000 children have to visit the Emergency Department at the PEH each year as the result of an accident and many of these are preventable. The Safety Calling Challenge enables children to learn about keeping safe and how to put their knowledge into practice. It will also help children to act in helpful and responsible ways if they see someone else in difficulty.

"The activities are fun as well as being an opportunity for children to learn vital messages about accident prevention. Safety Calling ensures the Year 6 children are taught vital safety skills with the help of all our experienced leaders and experts. The activities are not normally taught in schools and the knowledge they gain can last a lifetime."

safety calling

Pictured: Evie-Mai Bishop looking for hazards in a bathroom. 

Vauvert year six girls Skye Gardener, Evie-Mai Bishop and Amiee Bynam-Bulloch had completed half of the activities when they had the chance to speak to Express about what they had learnt so far.

"We have covered quite a few different things already," Evie-Mai said as they were searching a toilet area to look for potential dangers, like a hair straightener which had been left plugged in. 

"It has actually been really interesting and I think we have already learnt a lot," Skye added.

Members of the Child Accident Prevention Group plan and deliver the scenarios and the children have 12 minutes at each scene. The full circuit included:

  • Cycle safety with Guernsey Police
  • Road safety with Guernsey Police
  • Fire safety with Guernsey Fire & Rescue Service
  • Kitchen safety with the HPU Health Trainers and Frossard Ward staff
  • Dealing with choking with St John Training Services,
  • Internet safety with Education Services, Safe and Secure online and the Children’s library
  • Water safety with Youth Workers

During four of the scenarios, children are also given the opportunity to make real 999 calls to the Joint Emergency Services Control Centre. And most recently, with the rise of online gaming among children, the internet safety course was added to help them understand the importance of protecting their privacy on the internet. 

Yvonne Le Page, Chair of the Guernsey Child Accident Prevention Group, added: “The Guernsey Child Accident Prevention Group is delighted to be able to use St Saviour's Community Centre again for Safety Calling. The Centre is an ideal location as the rooms meet all our needs and we always get such positive support from the Centre management team.

"On behalf of the Group I would also like to thank our sponsors Rotary Guernesiais, and Traffic and Highway Services whose continued support funds the centre hire and running costs. We are also very grateful to Airtel-Vodafone who provided all the mobiles phones and sponsor the text messaging service and also to the many companies including Guernsey Electricity who have sponsored the activity book the children take home with them afterwards.”

safety calling

Pictured: the children learning how to deal with an RTC they witness. 

Mr Chesire added: "We are so grateful to all the agencies who give their time every year to ensure that the workshops are professionally presented in a way that is appropriate and realistic. When we test the children before and after they have been to Safety Calling both their levels of knowledge and ability to identify risks increase substantially so we know we are making a difference.

Each year, the event is able to take place because of the support of groups like Rotary Guernsey, Airtel, the States, and the Emergency services. It is all put on through sponsorship and volunteer work.

Pictured top: a Vauvert student escaping from a scenario fire. 

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