Pupils have flaming good time – and finish fire course in blaze of glory

The Currie team - Steven Paterson, Wajeeha Butt, Frankie Innes, Cameron Mason, Jake Collett, Sean McCombie, Karis Brady, James Larter, Dylan Innes and Mia Smith

Ten students from Currie Community High School have successfully completed their fire skills training at Sighthill fire station. The programme was designed to help give life skills to high school students who will be entering the world of work soon. All ten students were awarded a certificate for finishing the programme.

Pupils learned how to retrieve fire hoses from the fire engine in drill formation, how to prepare the hoses for use in a fire, how to operate ladders, how to climb ladders safely in a harness, how to use breathing equipment in small spaces with poor visibility and how to administer CPR.

The FireSkills course culminated on Friday with the students carrying out a demonstration of the skills that they had learned.

Afterwards they received their certificates at a ceremony in front of family, friends and school staff. The course is well supported by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) City of Edinburgh senior management team, who attended the display on the final day and got involved with the certificate presentations.

FireSkills is a programme run by highly experienced fire service professionals and is a flexible programme consisting of several sessions based on firefighter drills.

The course provides an intensive experience for learners, for many of whom, will be their first encounter with the world of work and making the transition from school to adult life. The students will receive a ‘personal commendation’ in addition to their completion certificate, which highlights a specific trait that has been identified for each student over the duration of the course. This adds weight to the positive outcomes of the course but also assists in raising the self-esteem of the students.

Donna Jordan, pupil support leader at Currie CHS, said: “Ten pupils took part, and I have seen their confidence, leadership, communication and teamwork skills improve immensely through involvement in this course.

“We sent young people who are in need of positive role models and would benefit from a disciplined environment. We have also sent pupils who would benefit from a boost in their self-esteem and a sense of achievement. We are extremely grateful to the Fire Service for providing this opportunity.”

Donna added: “I was really impressed with the level of expertise demonstrated by the pupils when I visited yesterday.

Vikas Chopra, SFRS local liaison officer for Edinburgh, said: “All the students have shown a great deal of enthusiasm during the week and have worked well together to achieve the tasks given to them. The course provides an opportunity for students to build on teamwork, leadership and other transferable skills. All of the students have used this opportunity to its full.”

JACOB FARR