Warwickshire Fire and Rescue School Education Programme

Warwickshire Fire & Rescue Service has established an education programme over the last 20 plus years that sees our Warwickshire Fire Crews and Prevention staff visit Year 1, Year 5 and Year 7 children regarding fire safety.

The education programme has a progressive golden thread that runs through it to raise awareness amongst our young people in schools. Our aim is to develop children’s knowledge and understanding of fire safety behaviour and to provide them with survival skills in the event of a fire.

During the Covid pandemic, when we were unable to physically deliver the programme within schools, we provided an online platform of learning to ensure fire safety education remained a vital part of teaching. We are pleased to say that all crews have now returned to delivering onsite sessions and we are already planning ahead for the next academic year.

The sessions are engaging, thought-provoking and fun and we have recently updated our resource material to reflect age-appropriate and inclusive learning and we welcome feedback provided by yourselves following each session.

The input for Key Stage 3 links fire safety awareness to the National Curriculum subject of citizenship and draws directly from the KS3 Programme of Study. The scheme entitled 'FIRE!' provides pupil and teacher guidance booklets for Year 7 pupils. A session is also delivered to each class by a Community Fire Safety Officer.

We would like to take this opportunity to encourage schools to participate as fully as possible with this programme. At the beginning of the school year, we will be working with the crews to allocate schools within their area. They will then contact each school individually to arrange to deliver the sessions to Y1 and Y5 at a time convenient with yourselves.

If your school is not aware of this and would like to take advantage of these visits, please let us know and we can arrange a member of the team to contact you.

I would also like to point you in the direction of some resources that may help you in the continued delivery of your great work:

For more information on WFRS education programmes, visit https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/firesafetyeducation

Alternatively, to play the new games for Ks1 and Ks2, visit the education hub at – https://apps.warwickshire.gov.uk/fire-education-ks1-ks2

This is an interactive site that continues the learning that is delivered by the crews at these sessions, looking at various fire safety themes, candles, escape plans, good and bad fires, stop drop and roll activity. This allows the young people to go home, to continue their learning with their household and loved ones and sharing lifesaving messages.

Both education platforms are fantastic and are a real support for adults in helping their children understand about fire safety as well as reminding them of their responsibilities within the home around fire safety. Both platforms have their place, locally and nationally and support each other.

In addition, throughout the year we run various competitions for children of all ages which helps to continue the momentum of learning about fire safety. We really do appreciate your support with these initiatives and thank you for your continued participation. We also post regularly on our social media platforms, sharing news and updates from teams and crews across the County.

If you have any questions about our Fire Education Programme, please do not hesitate to contact Sara Beirne, Community Fire Safety Officer / School Coordinator on 02476 314376 or by emailing sarabeirne@warwickshire.gov.uk