A DEFIBRILLATOR package, which could save lives, has been placed at a Wolverley school to tackle sudden cardiac arrests (SCA).

Fundraising events at Kidderminster’s Sainsburys have helped charity Hand on Heart provide the equipment to Wolverley Secondary School.

Staff and customers at the Carpet Trades Way store raised the £1,700 needed through events including a cake sale, Halloween dressing up day, Paralympic Torch visit, a 50/50 bucket and a bag packing event by Baxter College students.

Wolverley headteacher, Richard North, said: “We would like to thank Sainsburys staff and customers for all their hard fundraising work which has enabled the school to be grateful recipients of the package from Hand on Heart.

“The charity will be providing training to staff as well as some basic CPR and resuscitation training for a group of students.”

About 270 children die at schools across the UK each year after suffering from SCA. The only effective treatment is CPR and the use of an automated external defibrillator which must be administered within three to five minutes.

With the average ambulance response time in the UK at eight minutes, Hand on Heart staff say it is crucial for schools to have the life-saving equipment.

Sainsburys’ Kidderminster store manager Kevin Healey said: “We have done exceptionally well to get this second package into another school and we will now be working hard on raising more money towards another package.”

Last year the supermarket raised money to have a defibrillator package installed at Kidderminster’s Baxter College.