St John In Schools

 Today we had the lovely lady, Jo, from St John in our school to share ways to be safe.

She shared some interesting facts with us about how often children are hospitalised each week, for accidents that could be prevented. 

We also learnt how to keep safe when using wheels, such as skateboards, bikes, scooters and rollerblades. The most important safety equipment that is needed for all of these 'wheels', is a helmet.  Helmets protect our brains.

Other equipment that will protect children from getting injuries include always wearing shoes, knees pads, elbow pads and wrist guards. 

Shaan modelled for us how to safely wear a helmet.

1. the one-finger rule - you should only be able to fit one finger between the strap and your chin. If you can fit more, the helmet is too loose.

2. the two-finger rule - using two fingers, place them on the eyebrow to see how far down the helmet should be on your head. Too far down and you won't be able to see. Too high up and it won't protect your head.

3. the four-finger rule - Using your index and middle finger on each hand, space them out and place them around your ears. This is to remind you that one strap should be in front of your ears and the other should be behind your ears. 

4. The Wobble test - place you had on top of your helmet and wriggle it around. If it moves, it is either too loose or the helmet may be too big. 

Next the children learnt how to help someone if they got hurt during a fall. If there is a graze, we clean the wound with sterilized water and cover it with a plaster. It is important never to touch the square in the middle of the plaster. 

If the child bumped a body part hard on a surface, we apply an ice pack to prevent swelling and bruising. We then cover the area with a bandage to protect it from being injured again. 

The children enjoyed playing 'nurses' and applying plasters and bandages to each other.