Students Receive Top Marks on ‘HoveWatch’ Course
East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service give regular safety lessons to students at Longhill High School and, as part of a new initiative, they recently invited two of our students to attend HoveWatch, being held at Hove Fire Station. The course consisted of 5 day-long sessions over the period of a month, the aim of which was to build confidence, develop team working skills and to learn to keep themselves and others safe.
Mrs Glyne-Thomas, of our Pastoral Support Team, attended the passing out celebration this week and told us how she could not have been more proud of our students.
“Bradley (Year 8) and Leo (Year 9) were part of a team of 5 boys, the 3 other boys are BACA students, and they put on a presentation of all the training they have received during the 5 days spent with Hove Watch. Parents, grandparents, carers and representatives from both schools were there to support, as well as Mayor Dee Simpson, and senior representatives of East Sussex Fire and Rescue and Brighton and Hove Police.
The students showed us how real firefighters would respond to a fire: working together as a team, led by the members of Hove Watch who have worked with them through the program. We saw them aim the hoses at a burning building, aiding the safe evacuation of victims and performing CPR. They then kept up the pace by demonstrating how quickly the fire fighters have to pack away all the equipment back onto the rig, ready for the next call out. All the students were extremely impressive, with our two boys standing out as dynamic and proactive members of the crew.
After the display, for which the boys wore full protective gear in the 25 degree heat of the afternoon, the boys had a quick breather and some much needed water to compose themselves ready for the Passing-Out Ceremony. Each of them was presented with a framed certificate of achievement and some encouraging words were spoken about each boy. Leo was awarded a prize for being voted Top Student by the Hove Watch team and was highly praised for his commitment and attitude throughout the whole course. Bradley was also given praise for his hard work and enthusiasm and was told that he had come a close second to Leo.
After the ceremony, the boys and all the attendees enjoyed lunch and a chance to relax and reflect on the experience. All of the representatives of Hove Watch showed such dedication to the boys and had clearly taken time to get to know them all. They had provided a combination of structure and discipline as well as positive role modelling and mentoring.”
