The importance of involving students - no matter how young - in aspects of health and safety and how to deal with difficult situations on school trips was brought sharply into focus recently when a minibus carrying primary school students crashed, injuring the driver.
The incident took place on a country lane near Ashbourne in Derbyshire as the students were travelling to Longford Primary School.
Nine-year-old Taylor Young - who was in the minibus when it crashed - calmly stood up and told his class-mates "It's all going to be OK, we need to just get off the bus."
Taylor had seen that the driver of the minibus had been injured, so he and another Year 5 pupil, Imogen Scotcher, set to work helping other children out of the vehicle and away to safety.
Once outside the bus, Imogen and Taylor recognised the danger they were in on the country lane, which connects Long Lane with Ashbourne Road near Longford, so they led the other children, some of whom were as young as five, to the gateway of a nearby field where they knew they would be safe.
Emergency services soon arrived and the female driver was taken to hospital with head injuries.
Taylor said, "We hope our bus driver gets better quickly and she can drive us again soon. I will look after the little ones on the bus to make sure they are OK, so the parents don't need to worry."
Imogen said, "The little ones were very brave and we are proud of them. We knew how to calm our friends down and show them they were safe."
The school's Head Teacher, Phillip Searson said the students were all taught health and safety ahead of school trips and was pleased that they had put their skills into action.
He said: "We are inordinately proud of their bravery at the crash scene and the superb way that they supported and cared for each other in those first few moments after the accident.
"The children were all checked by paramedics and spent the rest of the day with their parents but were back at school the next morning, some travelling on the replacement bus, with a driver who showed such sensitivity to the situation."
The pupils spent the following morning talking through their experience with Mr Searson and praising each other for their contributions.
Mr Searson said: "One child said the youngest children were upset and shocked but they were all OK as their older school friends were comforting them. This is typical of the caring relationship the children have for each other, which is part of the ethos at Longford. When the other children back at the school were told of the accident and reassured all the children were not hurt, one six-year-old said, 'It will just need a bit of Longford love and everything will be all right'."
Mr Searson said that Ashbourne-based Mason's, the firm providing the minibus service, had been "fantastic" in the wake of the crash. A woman who claimed to be a relative of the driver said she was due to be released from hospital.
