A SCHOOL has invested in life-saving equipment which will also be used to benefit the wider community.

St Michael’s Preparatory School in Hadleigh Road, Leigh, has bought an automated external defibrillator unit for use on only pupils, staff and parents who suffer cardiac arrest.

The move comes after the Government recommended schools and other public buildings should be equipped with defibrillators so the equipment is widely available for use in case of an emergency.

Having a defibrillator available locally means in the event of someone suffering a cardiac arrest, vital minutes are not lost waiting for an ambulance.

Teacher Joanne Walpole said: “The unit is not only available to the school and its visitors, but to the wider community. The ambu- lance service tells us every minute’s delay in responding to a cardiac arrest lessens the chance of survival, so we are delighted we have a unit available here.”

Pupils at the private school are already benefiting from the equipment.

They are show it as part of science work, since Year 6 pupils are studying the function of the heart.

Ms Walpole said: “The pupils have found the unit a really clever machine and a fascinating aid to their studies.

“The machine is fully automated and talks the user through a procedure.”

Pupil Catherine Barton, 11, said: “The contents of this small boxwill help save someone’s life, I think it’s genius.”

Classmate Louis Molloy, 11, said: “We have been learning how a good healthy diet with plenty of green vegetables and lots of exercise helps to create a healthy heart.

“It’s fascinating to think we have a defibrillator unit in our school and interesting to learn how it can be used in the case of someone having a cardiac arrest.”

Diana Howers, St Michael’s school bursar, said: “We are delighted to provide a defibrillator unit at the school. It is a backup to the ambulance service.

“People are not always confident when they need to use one, but as this is fully automatic, it talks the user through every stage if a cardiac arrest has happened.”