FOUR Wisbech students have been teaching friends, family and fellow pupils the skills to help save a life.

Jonathan Lovell, Roxanne Stebbings, Emily Pilbeam and Sam Laws, from Marshland High School, are working towards their Silver Duke of Edinburgh Award.

As part of the community section of the award, they chose to take part in the British Heart Foundation’s HeartStart programme.

The four students have been trained in emergency life support skills including assessing an unconscious patient and performing CPR.

They have passed on their new skills at a HeartStart evening at Marshland, which was attended by more than 70 people.

Tony Lucas, Marshland’s Duke of Edinburgh leader, said: “This is an extraordinary achievement for the young people, which has only been possible with the amazing support of the school’s science department staff and the school senior management team.”

The group is also helping to train students taking part in their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award and they will take part in the BHF’s ‘Rock up in Red’ fund-raising day next year.

Alex Mayer, from the BHF, said: “It’s fantastic that students are spreading their knowledge of what to do if someone has a cardiac arrest.

“If you can do CPR you can buy the time needed for professional help and more than double the chance of the patient’s survival.

“A big thank you to the students for their fund-raising efforts too – the money they are raising for the British Heart Foundation for life saving equipment, ground-breaking research and patient care will keep more hearts beating in East Anglia.”