Thanks to the Guernsey Community Foundation, St John Ambulance Guernsey has received funding from a private charitable trust for its First Aid in Schools programme.
The St John First Aid in Schools programme provides all Bailiwick children in Years 5, 7 and 8 with training from the ‘Student First Aid’ programme. Student First Aid is a flexible syllabus which enables schools to customise the courses to fit their requirements, with an aim to educate and develop confidence and particular skills which, in the most severe cases, could be the difference between life and death.
The Bailiwick’s leading provider of first aid and first aid training services, St John introduced the course in 2008. Since then, thousands of students have been taught first aid by St John’s fully qualified professional trainers.
A grant of £12,500 will go towards the costs of running the course, which includes buying bandages, equipment and first aid kits.
Lorna Higgins-Bare, St John training officer, said: “We believe that every young person should have the chance to learn first aid. It should be as much a part of growing up as learning the alphabet. Learning first aid not only provides young people with important life-saving skills, but it also helps to build self-esteem and confidence. In addition to practical skills, students learn a sense of responsibility, teamwork and communication skills, how to make good choices and more importantly, how to help others.”
The Guernsey Community Foundation provides support to private charitable trusts who want to award grants but lack the resources, such as time or staff, to do so.
Jim Roberts, Chief Executive of the Foundation said: “In this case, St John applied to the Foundation’s own Grants Programme and we approached a private charitable trust that we work with as we felt that this would fit perfectly with their objectives. Once we had undertaken the necessary due diligence, the trustees were happy to agree funding.”
Carl Thomas, Fundraising, Events and Communications Manager for the Community Operations division of St John, said that applying for a grant via the Foundation was a very easy process, and encouraged other charities and not for profit organisations to do so.
Pictured: St John’s trainer Lorna Higgins Bare, taking a recent session at Les Beaucamps High School with a group of Year 7 students.
