Pupils in Evenwood receive bravery award after bus crash

SEVENTEEN primary school children and two teachers have been awarded bravery certificates by the police and ambulance service who went to their aid after their school bus crashed. 

Pupils from Evenwood Primary School were travelling to their swimming lesson when the school bus was involved in a collision with another vehicle.

Clinical care manager at the North East Ambulance Service Ben Barber and student paramedic Hannah Doherty, along with Police Community Support Officers (PCSO) Natasha Bree and Michael Atkinson returned to the school to talk to the children and award them all with certificates.

Earlier this month police were quickly followed by paramedic Angela Clarke and Ms Doherty at the scene to find the front of the school bus heavily damaged with the door jammed shut.

PCSO Darren Miles climbed through the emergency door and helped the children off the bus where the paramedics assessed the children and teachers for injuries.

Ms Clarke, who was disappointed she was unable to attend the reunion, explained: “We arrived to find that many of the children were shaken up and one of the teachers was injured.

“Luckily, no one else was really hurt but the children were incredibly brave after what must have been a really traumatic experience for them.”

Ms Doherty is in her second year training to be a paramedic at Sunderland University.

She added: “I’m really pleased that we’ve been able to return to the school. It’s such a good opportunity to be able to give them recognition for how brave they were and to be able to personally give them the certificates and see the smiles back on their faces.”

Speaking at the assembly, headteacher Helen Sutherland said: “All of us at Evenwood Primary school are incredibly proud of how well the pupils handled the incident and they are all such a credit to the school and their parents.” Eight-year-old Millie was one of the pupils on the school bus at the time of the incident.

Millie’s mum, Tracey Townsend, contacted the ambulance service to pass on her thanks, saying: “I would like to thank everyone for looking after my daughter.”

“She was very upset but said they were all lovely.

“As a mum it is my worst nightmare to not be there when she needs me but she has talked non-stop about the paramedics and the care they gave so I know she was well looked after.”

PCSO Miles said: “This was a joint effort among emergency services and a shining example of the teamwork involved in incidents like this.

“The pupils remained extremely calm in a scary situation and were very brave given what had just happened.

“Their parents, teachers and fellow pupils should

be extremely proud of

them.”