STAFF at a Blaenavon school are celebrating after winning a life-saving defibrillator worth £1,200 in a competition.

This year, Blaenavon Heritage VC Primary School entered a contest organised by Cardiff training company, Ajuda Ltd, while visiting the National Education Show in Cardiff.

Any visiting school could enter the competition and there were representatives from schools from around the UK at the event.

The ‘Life Pak’ device will be available to the school’s 510 pupils and 50 staff and users of the nearby leisure centre.

Ajuda Ltd’s managing director Dawn Evans visited the Blaenavon school to deliver the device and also gave staff a practical demonstration of how to use it.

Speaking at the event, she said:“I’m really passionate about introducing more and more defibrillators into public spaces and ultimately saving lives,” she said.

“Thanks to a life-saving defibrillator and CPR training, my father is alive today.”

Defibrillators are used to give a high energy electric shock to the heart through the chest wall to someone who is in cardiac arrest.

If used within the first three to five minutes after a cardiac arrest alongside CPR, they increase the chances of someone surviving by 68%.

Cardiac problems in children are rarer than in adults, but sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) can affect people of all ages and fitness levels.

According to the Resuscitation Council UK, 12 people under the age of 35 die each week due to sudden cardiac arrest.