Introducing Junior Hearts

 Introducing Junior Hearts

We’re pleased to announce Great Western Air Ambulance Charity’s (GWAAC) trial of a new educational programme in primary schools that will equip younger children with the skills and confidence needed to help someone in cardiac arrest. The trial called Junior Hearts is already showing early signs of success and if rolled out further, it will complement and strengthen our established Heartstarters CPR and defibrillator training sessions in secondary schools.

The Junior Hearts trial has been made possible thanks to £10,000 of community funding from National Highways A417 Missing Link Project and valuable support from Bristol design agency Hook Studio. Junior Hearts includes a training film, infographic pillowcases for the children to practice on and digital teaching resources that can be repurposed by teachers.

A team effort

Kate Amor, our Public Education Coordinator says, “We’re thrilled to be working in partnership once again with National Highways. Their valued support is helping us provide Year six teachers with a comprehensive lesson plan and supporting information, so they can equip students with effective skills in CPR and how to use a defibrillator. We know that the more opportunities a child has to learn these vital lifesaving skills, the more confident they will feel using them in an emergency.”

On Friday 26 September, Kate and representatives from National Highways and Hook Studio attended a Junior Hearts session at Whitminster C of E Primary School in Gloucestershire. Kate said, “It was wonderful watching the children at Whitminster C of E Primary School having fun learning CPR on their Junior Hearts pillowcases.” 

Looking to the future

Our hope is that the resources can be used by schools year on year to educate thousands of children. We’d love to provide this lifesaving education and equipment to the 571 schools across our region which includes Gloucestershire, Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol and North Somerset.

Our specialist crew is called to more cardiac arrests than any other type of incident; in 2024, they responded to 501 people in cardiac arrest across our region. The crew often say it’s the help from bystanders that allows them to provide the next level of care. Educating people from an early age and giving them the skills and confidence to help someone in cardiac arrest means we can reduce the number of avoidable deaths in our region.

Will Barker, Assistant Project Manager on the A417 Missing Link Project for National Highways, said: “It’s also a privilege to be able to support Great Western Air Ambulance Charity that provides such critical lifesaving services.”

If you would like to find out more about what GWAAC is doing to educate children, businesses and communities in CPR and defibrillation, visit our education page or contact hearts@gwaac.com. If your school is interested in joining the programme please find out more and add your details to the waiting list here.