PUPILS at a York primary school are raising money to buy a piece of lifesaving equipment for their classroom.

Year Six students at Burton Green Primary School are being supported by their teacher Rachael Cerowski in an effort to raise money for a defibrillator for the school.

Miss Cerowski is originally from Liverpool, where 12-year-old Oliver King died following a cardiac arrest in school in March 2011, and has recently been undergoing tests over heart palpitations.

She said: “I’m 24 and fit and healthy, and if it could potentially happen to me, it could happen to anyone.

“We spend most of our waking hours in school and if it’s going to happen, that’s where it would. Ambulance response time is six minutes and 11 seconds to our school, and the chances of survival drop to about six per cent after five minutes.”

The pupils wrote a letter asking businesses around York to donate to their appeal, and a justgiving page has been set up to help the school raise the funds.

Miss Cerowski said the defibrillator would be a legacy for the Year Six pupils.

She said: "Every year 270 children die in schools from cardiac arrests, that's more than die from fires in school, but it's not a legal requirement to have a defibrillator. That was quite hard hitting for the pupils to hear.

"I'm really proud of how articulate the letters are and how professional they look too. We cover formal letter writing in Year Six, but more than that, I'm really proud of how well researched and written they are, and how confident the children are because it's a sensitive subject."

Headteacher Kelsey Clark-Davis said: “Defibrillators cost less for schools, so about £600, but we haven’t set a deadline yet. We’re hoping by the end of the school year. Year Six are leaving in July, so this could be a legacy they leave behind.”

To donate to the appeal, go to justgiving.com/crowdfunding/burtongreenprimaryschooldefib