PUPILS at the Sir John Colfox Academy are making sure they and the staff are keeping safe.

This year Hinomaru House decided to raise funds to buy a school defibrillator.

The house council discussed the idea for some two months before coming to the decision, with the support of the headteacher David Herbert, that it would have a great benefit to everyone.

Students completed research into the benefits of having a defibrillator and found that it increases a person’s chances of survival of by more than 70 per cent if used with effective CPR in three to five minutes.

A number of Hinomaru students also completed a first aid training session in for their Duke of Edinburgh’s Award were taught how to use one and felt strongly that Colfox should get one.

To raise funds a variety of activities and events took place on Hinomaru Day. The big event of the day was the charity raffle and there were some amazing prizes donated such as football and rugby tickets and restaurant vouchers.

Students in every year group from 7 to 11 also raised money through sponsored silences, face painting, hair spraying and guess how many sweets in the jar.

A number of students from all the houses at Colfox attended a special session that was provided by the Bridport First Response Team. They found it a very moving session watching a video about the effectiveness of defibrillators for people of all ages. Students then had the opportunity to see the amount of life saving equipment a first responder carries, watch a defibrillator in action and learn how to do CPR.

The day raised more than £1700 and the school wants to thank the businesses who helped and Daniel White and the first response team of Bridport who came in to raise awareness of defibrillators and CPR.