CHILDREN on Canvey will be taught how to save lives as part of a trail-blazing scheme which could be adopted across the county and beyond.

Canvey Town Council and Thames Ambulance Service have contributed £1,000 each so youngsters on the island can learn basic first aid.

And other councils across south Essex already seem keen to adopt the project if it proves a success.

Castle View School, on the island, will run the first two-day course next month with Year 7 pupils who will each have an hour's intensive tuition.

Headteacher Russell Sullivan said: "As a headteacher I'm keen on teaching young people basic first aid skills. It has always been a question of costs and finding a reasonable provider who can fit in with the school day.

"The relationship we have with Thames Ambulance has always been a positive one. It has always been very supportive of the school and its initiative in teaming with the town council has enabled us to put together a really exciting programme."

The pupils, aged 11 and 12, will be taught basic skills such as how to put someone in the recovery position, stop bleeding and carry out resuscitation.

Dave Blackwell, leader of Canvey Town Council, said: "We are very excited about this.

"I think it's very important for children to learn as much as possible about first aid. They can take that potentially life-saving knowledge with them through life."

Thames Ambulance Service, based in Northwick Road, is a private ambulance service, which provides training courses as well as transport for patients.

Manager Terry Spurr is also a member of the Children's Safety Education Foundation, which aims to ensure all children and their carers have access to high quality safety education.

He said: "I've spent the past 45 years in the ambulance service and one of my passions has always been that children should have a good basic understanding about first aid.

"The amount of times I've been out on a job and if the child had just known to lift someone's chin or turn them over they could have saved someone's life."

The scheme has been welcomed by other councils who said they would look into funding courses themselves.

Simon Walsh, Essex County Council cabinet member for schools, children and families, said: "It's a really great initiative. If there's any way the county council can support it, it will."

Leigh Town Council currently runs a first aid post in the town during the summer with St John Ambulance.

Geoff Fulford, clerk at Leigh Town Council, said: "It certainly is something that we might consider to do in the future."

Leader of Basildon Council Malcolm Buckley said: "We would be interested to find out how the scheme operates, although it would be something that I would hope that Essex County Council as the local education authority would take on as it falls within their remit.

"The knowledge is something which probably ought to be part of people's life skills.

"We were given basic lessons in first aid when I was at school, but, like a lot of areas that do not contribute directly to SATs and exam results, they have understandably been dropped as schools have felt that they have to make sacrifices."

"These sorts of topics are the ones that have gone."