Pupils deal with major incident

PUPILS at a Warrington school were faced with a major incident.
But the outbreak of a potentially dangerous virus at Great Sankey High School was all in a good cause – as the mock scenario was part of a special school project.
During the day long “incident” Year Eight pupils were given an insight into how the school – and the emergency services – would work together in the case of a major incident.
Local police officers worked closely alongside the school to ensure the incident was as realistic as possible.
Cheshire Police’s exhibition vehicle was set up in the school grounds and this acted as a central point for police contact and became the incident room.
Inspector Brian Heywood, of Warrington West Neighbourhood Policing Unit, and other local officers were on hand throughout the day to offer the students advice from a police perspective.
Inspector Heywood said: “The idea originally came from staff at Great Sankey High and they contacted us to get advice as to how incident rooms work in practise in scenarios such as this.
“The students were really enthusiastic about it. Exercises like this not only help to educate young people in Warrington it also gives them a chance to get to know their local officers and to build up their understanding and trust of the police. It also helps us to strengthen our links with local schools.”