‘Sbarc’ visits Ysgol Penycae to spread the word on bonfire and firework safety

Pupils at a Wrexham primary school have received a special visit to help promote bonfire and firework safety.

Fire safety mascot ‘Sbarc’ visited to Ysgol Penycae to mark the start of North Wales Fire and Rescue Service’s bonfire and firework safety colouring competition – as well as promoting the new free bilingual learning platform, ‘StayWiseCymru’.

StayWiseCymru brings together educational resources of blue light emergency services and blue light organisations which have been designed to the new curriculum in Wales.

It offers free lesson plans, videos, and activity sheets to help educators teach young people about potentially lifesaving advice within the curriculum areas of learning and experience.

The website also offers provides for households to use. Teachers can also set work from the site as part of a remote learning plan for parents and carers to follow.

The National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) leads on the partnership behind StayWiseCymru. Partners include the Royal Life Saving Society (RLSS UK), the Royal National Lifeguard Institute (RNLI), HM Coastguard, the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives, the National Police Chiefs Council, Education, National Resource Wales, and Network Rail.

The colouring competition will look to promote bonfire and firework safety, and activity sheets will be sent out to primary schools across the region to help stimulate conversations around staying safe.

During the visit to the school, the pupils received a swim bag and StayWiseCymru resources.

Stuart Millington, Assistant Chief Fire Officer from North Wales Fire and Rescue Service attended the school to thank the staff personally. He said: “As a fire and rescue service we are committed to keeping our communities safe.

“Our latest colouring competition is just one way we are connecting with our communities. Another exciting development is StayWiseCymru – a fantastic new resource for everyone to use.

“It offers teachers, parents, carers and the emergency services consistent and effective educational materials to help young people learn about a range of safety topics.

“Its so important that the resource is tried and tested, and we can’t thank the staff at Ysgol Penycae enough for all their work in helping us ensure that the platform is user friendly and effective.”

Lesley Bassett, Project Manager for StayWiseCymru added: “StayWiseCymru is committed to saving lives through education.

“By getting partners working together, we have produced a consistent learning resource that educators from across the community can use with confidence, whether they’re teachers, home-schooling, or emergency service staff and volunteers.

“Working together has enabled us to provide effective safety resources for educators across Wales, ensuring that children and young people are receiving preventative messages on how to keep themselves safe.”

Laura McGee, Deputy Head at Ysgol Penycae said: “We were all thrilled to see staff from the fire and rescue service here at the school.

“The StayWiseCymru website is a great platform, with a wide range of resources available.”