Warwickshire News Mine

Ashlawn School, Rugby is the first school in Warwickshire to take part in this pilot scheme, which has been formed as part of a partnership between Warwickshire County Council Emergency Plans Unit and Fire and Rescue Service, Warwickshire Police, West Midlands Ambulance Service and the Rugby Local Strategic Partnership (LSP). 

The event took place on Friday 3 July, with over 270 Year 9 (14yr old) students taking part, with two sessions taking place over the day.  The aim of the exercise was to provide awareness of the initial responses to a major incident, to outline the role of other agencies, highlight the importance of a joint agency response and to show how emergencies affect people and what they can do to help.

The exercise was based on a rail crash in Rugby and Emergency Planners from Warwickshire County Council along with Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service, Warwickshire Police and West Midlands Ambulance Service delivered different scenarios to the students. 

Members of the LSP including staff from Rugby Borough Council, two Borough Councillors, Rugby Bid, Warwickshire Police, Community Support Officers, Fire & Rescue and Warwickshire County Council worked with the students in syndicate groups. 

Emergency Planning Officer, Sally Lange said: “We were really pleased to pilot this scheme at Ashlawn School, it was a good opportunity for us to raise young peoples awareness about what happens in an emergency and to teach them how they can help themselves by being better prepared.”

Chairman of the Rugby Local Strategic Partnership, Councillor Leigh Hunt said:
“This was a pilot aimed at showing the students in real terms how the various services work together and to provide an opportunity for the young people to work with professional disciplines to tackle the issues as they arose.”

Link to WCC