An autumn class will teach secondary school students in south Essex how to save lives.

The East of England Ambulance Service Trust (EEAST) are teaching students throughout the county how to perform CPR in October for Restart a Heart Day.

Speaking about the event, Andrew Barlow, a community collaboration manager at EEAST, said: “Every year we take part in the country’s biggest mass CPR training event and we’re very proud to be continuing to do our part as this event goes global.

“We want to visit as many schools as possible so that we can teach this important and life-saving skill to as many people as we can.

“It only takes a minute to fill out the application form to get involved, which helps to equip the next generation of lifesavers with vital CPR skills.”

In 2017, more than 195,000 children and young people across the country learned CPR.

The year’s event will involve all of the UK’s ambulance services; the Resuscitation Council, the British Heart Foundation, British Red Cross and St John Ambulance.

About 30,000 people go into cardiac arrests outside of hospital in the UK every year.

The chances of surviving a cardiac arrest drop 10 per cent a minute if CPR is not started, and survival rates are currently less than one in 10 people in this country.

World Restart a Heart Day is on Tuesday October 16.

To find out more information and to sign up, click here.