First aid to be added to the school curriculum

From 2020 onwards, all state-funded schools in England will be required to teach first aid as part of health education. This will include basic first aid for primary school children, for example dealing with common injuries, such as head injuries. Young people in secondary schools will be taught further first aid. For example, how to administer CPR and the purpose of defibrillators.

To find out more, you can read the government’s proposals.

Thank you for your help in creating a new generation of life savers!

We welcome these proposals, which follow many years of campaigning to make first aid a priority in the classroom.

Recently, the Department for Education ran a ‘call for evidence’ on PSHE (personal, social, health, and economic) education. As part of this, we and our campaign partners submitted a report to the Department for Education asking for first aid to be made a mandatory part of statutory PSHE. We also asked you to submit your views and evidence. To the hundreds of supporters who called on the government to get first aid teaching into schools - thank you!

‘Lives will be saved, and young people will benefit from developing skills that will build their character and strengthen community resilience. Thank you to all of our supporters whose campaigning has paved the way for a new generation of life savers. We look forward to working with the Department for Education and with schools up and down the country to ensure that young people’s health takes its important place on the curriculum.’

- Martin Houghton-Brown, Chief Executive

In the meantime…

Don’t wait until 2020, if you’re a teacher or youth leader, you could start teaching your pupils first aid now.

We have lots of free teaching resources available to help teachers bring first aid into the classroom.