Our Sessions
Session Specifics
To deliver your session we require:
Classrooms and outside areas are not suitable.
- Please contact us to discuss sessions for groups of students with additional needs.
- Please read the Terms and Conditions as these must be agreed to before booking can proceed and see the “More Information” section at the bottom of the page.
- All our volunteers have an enhanced DBS check and photographic charity ID.
- A certificate and feedback form will be sent after the session is complete.
- We appreciate photographs of our session showing the children performing the skills that have parental consent.
- The session is taught by 3 instructors.
- At the start of the session, the lead instructor will either give a live skillset demonstration to the entire group or will ask for the skillset video to be shown.
- After either the live demonstration or the video, the lead instructor will ask the supervising teacher to divide the attending children.
- The three instructors will space themselves around the hall with one of the 3 small groups of children.
- Each instructor will teach a single skill (either choking, child CPR or adult CPR) for 10 minutes to their group – so the three different skills that require the manikins will be taught simultaneously.
- After 10 minutes the children rotate to the next instructor to learn a different skill. Then they rotate a third time to learn the third skill.
- After the third rotation, the children stay with their final instructor to practice the recovery position.
- There is an all group recap and close at the end which may be given as a video.
- An e-certificate with all the skills will be made available for the children.
Please allow ten minutes’ flexibility at the end of the session in case of a late start or slight overrun.
We often have new instructors attend their first session as an “extra” to see how it works in real-time. Therefore, more than three instructors may attend but all will be DBS checked and trained by Little LifeSavers.
If one instructor has to cancel at short notice, the other two instructors may feel confident to deliver the session between them to 30 children or less. They will do this by asking the supervising teacher to divide the group in half, and each instructor will teach two skills back-to-back to their half of the group. The two groups of children will then switch.
If the remaining instructors are unable to teach the session, one of the volunteers will telephone the school to cancel and we ask for your understanding, and to please re-book through the booking system.
We endeavour to provide our session to every child. We recognise that children might not wish to take part, or to practice on the CPR manikins. Their right to decline will be respected.
We ask that if there are participants who require a little extra time, or who need for the content of the session to be reduced in anyway, that you please let us know at the time of booking AND send an email to info@littlelifesavers.org. We will do our best to accommodate such needs.
“A picture tells a thousand words”
We very much value the opportunity to have some photographs of the training sessions we deliver, to help us to show others what we offer.
We use them upon our website, for our blog posts and to promote the work of the charity through advertising and social media. We ask schools to provide pictures that have parental consent for such use. This is an enormous help in promoting our work.
Our volunteer instructors are advised to follow the host school’s local Covid-19 guidelines. They are advised to continue to use hand sanitizer and wear facemasks for the session they provide.
If proof of a negative lateral flow test 24 hours before the session is required for volunteer instructors visiting your school, YOU MUST inform us on the BOOKING FORM so volunteer instructors can comply.
Please Note: An inconclusive or positive lateral flow test means the affected volunteer instructor will not attend the session. This may unfortunately result in the cancellation of your booking on the morning of the session.
Frequently Asked Questions about Our Sessions:
Our volunteer instructors come from every walk of life, which means not all of them are necessarily experienced in teaching or demonstrating in front of others.
Being able to show the introduction and skillset demonstration video is extremely helpful for volunteers, especially new ones (all of whom are trained of course) when delivering a session. Skillset demonstration video.
It is a way of supporting them and increasing their confidence to deliver the session. This helps ensure that the session runs smoothly for them, as well as the children receiving the training; and so encourages them to continue to volunteer and teach these essential skills.
In essence, it brings the knowledge and skills to life. The videos can be used and referred back to at any time; but, delivering a practical session gives an experience upon which to anchor the knowledge, which is coupled with physical feedback and memory.
It gives the children a vital opportunity to practice, which simply watching a video does not offer. In addition, it helps the adult members of the public who volunteer with us, the opportunity to practice these skills which increases their own confidence to use them and teach them, and by visiting schools they have opportunity to network with each other and the school. These are some of the cornerstones of building a strong, lifesaving community.
Unfortunately not. No. Classrooms do not provide adequate floor space.
In a hall, three instructors can teach up to 60 children the choking, and the two CPR skill scenarios at the same time. This is vital to ensure that each child practices every skill inside the allotted one-hour session time. Classrooms can also be too hot, and the noise levels frequently become too loud.
Ideally, we prefer 30 children per session which give 10 children to each rotating group. This makes the quality of the teaching high and the instructors are able to deliver the session comfortably.
However, we recognise the constraints of the school timetable, along with the need to train the children. Therefore, a maximum of 20 children per rotating group allows the session quality to remain good without overwhelming the instructors.
We want all the children to have the opportunity to practice each skill, and any more than 20 per group means the session will overrun.
This is essential for the following reasons:
- Although all our volunteers are DBS checked and agree to a code of conduct, safeguarding is an absolute priority for Little LifeSavers. Should a volunteer have concerns about any aspect of the session; they are instructed to raise them with the supervising member of staff, before reporting to the safeguarding lead trustee, who will need to follow up with the school.
- Our volunteers will need assistance in managing the children during the session if they are to keep within the one-hour time frame. Sessions can become very noisy and it is vital that the volunteers have help keeping the children on-task. The children will need to split into three groups, and the supervising member of staff is best placed to do this. We also ask that the member of staff keeps time for the 10-minute rotation.
- We will request feedback from the member of staff at the end of the session for quality control.