The Life Savers curriculum

Primary (P4 to P6) · certificate: Junior Life Saver

1. Stay safe and get help 35 min

• Check for danger before helping someone.
• Shout for help and tell an adult.
• Call 112 and say clearly what happened and where.

Practical skills: Looks for danger before approaching; Makes a clear 112 call: what, where (with a landmark), how many

2. Is the person OK? Checking and the recovery position 40 min

• Check if a person is awake by tapping and shouting.
• Look to see if the person is breathing normally.
• Put a person who is breathing but not awake on their side (the recovery position).

Practical skills: Taps shoulders and shouts; Checks breathing for up to 10 seconds; Puts a partner in the recovery position correctly

3. Push hard, push fast: helping when the heart stops 40 min

• Explain in simple words what happens when the heart stops.
• Put your hands in the right place on the chest.
• Push to a steady fast beat and keep going until help arrives.

Practical skills: Puts hands in the middle of the chest; Keeps arms straight; Pushes to the beat (about 2 per second)

4. Choking and bleeding 40 min

• Know the signs that someone is choking.
• Help a choking person by getting them to cough and getting an adult, and know the back blows and tummy thrusts.
• Press hard on a bleeding cut and get help.

Practical skills: Recognises choking and encourages coughing; Shows where back blows and tummy thrusts go (mimed); Presses firmly on a pretend wound with protected hands

Junior High School · certificate: Life Saver

1. When the heart stops: recognise and call 40 min

• Explain the difference between a heart attack and a cardiac arrest.
• Recognise cardiac arrest: no response and no normal breathing, including gasping.
• Describe the chain of survival and call 112 straight away.

Practical skills: Checks danger, response and shouts for help; Calls 112 on speaker before or while checking breathing; Opens the airway and checks breathing for up to 10 seconds; Treats gasping as cardiac arrest

2. Hands-only CPR 45 min

• Give chest compressions in the right place.
• Push 5 to 6 cm deep at 100 to 120 a minute, letting the chest come back up.
• Keep CPR going with as few pauses as possible and swap rescuers every 2 minutes.

Practical skills: Hands on the lower half of the breastbone, arms straight; Compresses to the beat (100 to 120 a minute); Lets the chest recoil fully; Keeps going for 2 minutes and swaps smoothly

3. Using an AED (defibrillator) 40 min

• Explain what an AED does and where you might find one.
• Switch on an AED and follow its voice instructions.
• Place the pads correctly and keep CPR going around the shock.

Practical skills: Switches on the AED first and follows prompts; Places pads in the correct positions; Keeps everyone clear during analysis and shock; Restarts compressions straight after the shock

4. Choking: adults, children and babies 40 min

• Recognise mild and severe choking.
• Give back blows and abdominal thrusts to a choking adult or child.
• Know the different method for a choking baby.

Practical skills: Recognises severe choking; Shows correct back-blow position (mimed); Shows correct abdominal-thrust hand position (mimed); Shows baby back blows and chest thrusts on a doll

5. Serious bleeding and the recovery position 45 min

• Control serious bleeding with firm direct pressure and packing.
• Know that a tourniquet is used for limb bleeding that pressure does not stop.
• Put an unresponsive, breathing person in the recovery position, and know when not to move them.

Practical skills: Protects hands and applies firm direct pressure; Packs a deep pretend wound; Places a partner in the recovery position correctly

Senior High School · certificate: Senior Life Saver

1. Cardiac arrest: recognise it, call, act 40 min

• Explain why the first minutes after a cardiac arrest decide survival.
• Recognise cardiac arrest, including agonal breathing and a brief seizure at collapse.
• Apply the 2025 sequence: danger, response, call 112 on speaker, airway, breathing, CPR.

Practical skills: Runs the danger-response-call-airway-breathing sequence; Calls 112 on speaker early; Correctly treats gasping or post-collapse seizure as arrest

2. CPR with rescue breaths, and CPR for children 50 min

• Give high-quality compressions: 5 to 6 cm at 100 to 120 a minute.
• Give effective rescue breaths at a ratio of 30:2, or hands-only CPR if unwilling or untrained.
• Adapt CPR for children and babies.

Practical skills: Compressions at correct depth and rate with full recoil; Two effective rescue breaths with visible chest rise, back on the chest within 10 seconds; Shows 5 initial breaths and correct technique for a child or baby

3. AED and working as a team 40 min

• Use an AED safely with minimal pauses in CPR.
• Organise bystanders into clear roles.
• Hand over clearly to the ambulance team.

Practical skills: Places AED pads while compressions continue; Ensures everyone is clear before the shock; Restarts CPR immediately after the shock; Gives clear instructions to bystanders

4. Choking at all ages 35 min

• Tell mild from severe choking.
• Give back blows and abdominal thrusts to adults and children, and back blows and chest thrusts to babies.
• Start CPR if a choking person becomes unresponsive.

Practical skills: Correct adult back blows and abdominal thrusts (mimed); Correct baby back blows and chest thrusts on a doll; Switches to CPR when the casualty becomes unresponsive

5. Stop the bleed: pressure, packing and tourniquets 50 min

• Recognise life-threatening bleeding.
• Use the escalating approach: firm pressure, packing, then a tourniquet for limb bleeding.
• Apply a tourniquet correctly and know what to do with an amputated part or an open chest wound.

Practical skills: Applies firm direct pressure and packs a wound; Places a tourniquet 5 to 7 cm above the wound, not over a joint; Tightens until bleeding (pulse) stops and records the time

6. Seizures, drowning and helping safely 40 min

• Help a person having a seizure safely, and know when to call 112.
• Rescue a drowning person without going into the water, and start CPR with rescue breaths.
• Look after yourself after helping in an emergency.

Practical skills: Manages a seizure safely without restraint or objects in the mouth; Rescues by reaching or throwing without entering water; Gives 5 rescue breaths, then 30:2, for a drowning casualty

Adults & Community · certificate: Community Life Saver

1. Cardiac arrest: recognise, call 112, CPR and the AED 50 min

• Recognise cardiac arrest, including gasping breaths and a brief fit at collapse.
• Call 112 on speaker straight away and send for an AED.
• Give high-quality CPR: 30 compressions to 2 breaths, or compressions only.
• Use an AED safely and keep going until help takes over.

Practical skills: Calls 112 on speaker early; Correct hand position, depth and rate with full recoil; 2 effective breaths or continuous compressions; Uses the AED safely and restarts CPR after a shock

2. Choking: adults, children and babies 35 min

• Tell mild from severe choking.
• Give back blows and abdominal thrusts to adults and children, and back blows and chest thrusts to babies.
• Start CPR if a choking person becomes unresponsive.

Practical skills: Recognises severe choking; Correct back blows and abdominal thrust position (mimed); Correct baby back blows and chest thrusts on a doll

3. Serious bleeding and road crashes 50 min

• Make a road crash scene as safe as possible before helping.
• Control serious bleeding: firm pressure, packing, and a tourniquet for limb bleeding.
• Protect a possible neck injury, including with a motorcycle helmet.

Practical skills: Sets up a safe scene and makes a clear 112 call; Applies pressure and packs a wound; Places and tightens a tourniquet correctly and notes the time; Holds the head still and performs a jaw thrust

4. Chest pain and heart attack 35 min

• Recognise the warning signs of a heart attack.
• Call 112, keep the person resting, and help them take aspirin if appropriate.
• Be ready to start CPR if they collapse.

Practical skills: Recognises heart attack warning signs; Calls 112 early with a clear location; Offers 300 mg chewed aspirin correctly (checks for allergy)

5. Stroke (FAST) and seizures 40 min

• Recognise a stroke using FAST and call 112 at once.
• Note the time symptoms started.
• Help someone having a seizure safely and know when to call 112.

Practical skills: Performs FAST and calls 112 with time of onset; Manages a seizure safely without restraint; Places a person in the recovery position

6. Low blood sugar and severe allergy 40 min

• Recognise and treat low blood sugar in someone with diabetes.
• Recognise anaphylaxis and help someone use their adrenaline auto-injector.
• Know when to call 112.

Practical skills: Gives oral glucose only to an awake person who can swallow; Calls 112 and positions an anaphylaxis casualty correctly; Uses an auto-injector trainer into the outer thigh

7. Burns, heat stroke and snakebite 40 min

• Cool a burn correctly and avoid harmful remedies.
• Recognise heat stroke and cool the person fast.
• Give safe first aid for snakebite.

Practical skills: Cools a burn with running water and covers it correctly; Names harmful burn remedies to avoid; Immobilises a bitten limb without a tourniquet

8. Drowning, the recovery position and after the emergency 35 min

• Rescue a drowning person safely without entering the water.
• Give 5 rescue breaths then CPR for a drowned person.
• Use the recovery position and look after yourself after an emergency.

Practical skills: Rescues by reaching or throwing without entering water; Gives 5 rescue breaths then 30:2; Places a partner in the recovery position correctly