We have created a range of fun and engaging resources, which can be used by teachers in the classroom to make sure all the children learn important fire safety messages.
Below you will find the resources and teacher notes for a range of activities that can be completed with your class.
As a minimum we would ask that you watch Grandad’s Birthday Story and play “Safe to Play or Stay Away” game.
Please also send the information sheet home to parents and carers.
If you have additional capacity, please do use the rest of the resources to help the children understand the important messages to keep themselves safe and learn about the role of a firefighter.
Thank you for your commitment to safeguarding the children in your care by helping them understand how to be safe around fire, roads and water.
The topics are:
In addition we have:
- Colouring / activity worksheets to use with the children.
- Take home sheet – to help the children take the important safety messages home.
- Feedback form and certificate – from yourself to help us improve the resources. By filling out the feedback form you will access the fire safety certificate for your class.
Grandad’s Birthday Safety Story
A story read by Firefighter Heather. When Grandad visits, he puts too many candles on his birthday cake setting off the smoke alarm. This introduces smoke alarms to the children and how important they are at detecting a fire. Baby Cora then finds some matches and lighters on the kitchen worktop. This is a good discussion point to remind young children they should never touch matches and lighters.
Main activity: 6-minute video safety story read by Firefighter Heather, followed by short recap video (4 minutes) of the main safety messages.
Please note a smoke alarm sound is heard in both videos.
Resources: Grandad’s Birthday PowerPoint. Please click on the links embedded within the PowerPoint to access the videos.
To do:
- Watch the video of Grandad’s Birthday (6 minutes).
- Watch Firefighter Heather’s Safety Messages video (4 minutes).
Additional Activity
Grandad’s birthday story sequencing
Safe To Play or Stay Away
It is important that young children understand what items in the home can be harmful, and how they can make choices to stay safe in their home.
Main Activity PowerPoint game, children look at an item and decide if it is “safe to play” or they need to “stay away”.
Resources: Safe to Play or Stay Away PowerPoint and crib notes
To do:
- Using the PowerPoint ask the children to chose a numbered firefighter on slide 5.
- For each picture the children decide if it is “safe to play” or they need to “stay away”. Children put thumbs up or down.
Additional Activity
Use the worksheets to sort the images into Safe to Play or Stay Away. Children can work individually, in pairs or groups. Cut out the pictures and place or stick them on to the safe to play firefighter or stay away firefighter.
Safe to Play or Stay Away sorting worksheet
Firefighters
Firefighters can be a great inspiration to children, role modelling behaviours and teaching children how to be safe. In this section children can learn about:
- the role of firefighters
- what firefighters have to help them look after people in an emergency
- how the children can stay safe like a firefighter
- firefighter characteristics and how the children can be like firefighters
- acting out the actions of a firefighter.
Main activity: Use the PowerPoint “Firefighter” with a mix of short videos and activities to find out the different roles of a firefighter, the characteristics of firefighters and encourage the children to be inspired by firefighters.
Resources: Firefighter PowerPoint
To do:
- What do firefighters do? Watch the Playmobil video (2:23 minutes) to learn about the main three rescue roles of a firefighter: putting out fires, rescuing people from crashes and rescuing people from water. Recap the three types of rescues. For each rescue there is an icon (fire, road, water), an image from the Playmobil film, an image of real firefighters and an image to give a safety message.
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- Fire – the fireworks started a fire.
Firefighters have hoses and water to put out fires.
Remember if there could be a fire: Get out, Stay out, Call 999.
- Fire – the fireworks started a fire.
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- Roads- Stevie’s car crashed with the clowns inside.
Firefighters have special equipment to help people in car crashes.
Always wear a seatbelt (and sit on a car seat if needed).
- Roads- Stevie’s car crashed with the clowns inside.
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- Water – Mrs Atkinson floated away in the flood.
Firefighters are trained to help rescue people in water.
If you are scared or in danger in water, float like a star.
- Water – Mrs Atkinson floated away in the flood.
Please note there are additional resources for water and road safety below:
- What do firefighters have to help them?
Watch Firefighter Heather (2:30 minutes) explain what firefighters do and the equipment they have to help them.
Click on the link embedded in the PowerPoint to access the video.
- What are firefighters like?
Using the characteristics firefighters have to inspire the children.
Click through the slide to reveal a characteristic. You can link the characteristics of a firefighter to the child i.e. bravery doesn’t just mean rescuing someone in an emergency, it can be trying something you are not sure of.
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- Brave
- Works as part of a team
- Listens carefully
- Does as they are asked
- Speaks clearly
- Keeps trying even when it is hard
- Kind and thoughtful
- Keeps fit and healthy
- Be a firefighter!
Watch the Firefighter Actions video (5:50 minutes) and act along with Davina demonstrating actions to pretend to be a firefighter going to a fire.
The children will need to have room to stand up and take part in the actions.
Click on the link embedded in the PowerPoint to access the video.
Additional:
“Firefighters Can” colouring sheets
Water Safety
It is important that all children (whether they can swim or not) know what to do if they are in trouble in water or feel scared in water. If you could spend a few minutes showing the children how to “float like a star” (lie on their backs, arms and legs out like a star) this would be invaluable in helping them know what to do if they get in trouble in water.
- The RNLI’s Seaside Safety Song (30 seconds) video song from the RNLI introduces the concept of “Float” as well it being safer to go to a lifeguarded beach.
- Many resources to teach about water safety can be found from both the RNLI and RLSS websites.
RNLI Education Resources For Young People
Water Safety Education Resources for Schools
- Safe by the River: Read by Zoë Wanamaker, CBE (6 minutes) Safety Story.
- Safe by the Sea: Read by Sharron Davies, MBE (7 minutes) Safety Story.
Road Safety
It is important that children learn how to stay safe using the roads either as a passenger in a vehicle, as a pedestrian or on a bike or scooter.
- Stuart Driver “Stay back stay safe” – YouTube (1:45 minutes) Firefighter Stuart explains how it is important to “stay back and stay safe” when an emergency vehicle is passing and that firefighters always wear their seatbelts.
- Many road safety resources can be found on the Think! Road Safety website www.think.gov.uk/education-resources/.
Activity sheets
Additional activity sheets for use:
- Firefighter Maths
- Firefighter Scavenger hunt
- Colouring Get out Stay out Call 999
- Colouring matches lighters never touch
Take home sheet
To help the children put their learning into practice and have safer homes, it is important that the parents and carers know what the children have learnt.
Please could you either, print or email home the document “Take home evaluation Reception Colouring”.
The colouring sheet contains a QR code that parents and carers can scan to complete a form with the children, to make sure everybody learns the important safety messages. It also allows them to enter a prize draw to win a VIP trip to a fire station, Blaze bear and emergency services play set (Lego or Playmobil). One prize draw entry will be chosen at the end of the academic year.
Feedback and certificate
It is very important that we provide an excellent standard of service to schools. Therefore, to help us improve we would be very grateful if you could take a few moments to fill in this quick online survey about the self-delivered activities.
Your feedback is important in allowing us to develop the resources we can offer you. Once you have submitted the evaluation, there will be a link to download and print a class certificate.
Fire Appliance visit
We understand that a visit by the fire crew and the fire appliance is very beneficial to the children. However, due to capacity we are sadly unable to fulfil every request. To enquire if a fire appliance would be available, please fill in this form.
The request will be sent to your local fire station. If they have capacity to visit they will contact you using the details on the form. If you do not hear back, sadly they do not have capacity for the visit this year.
Please do not share the form with other schools, and use this form only for requests for a fire appliance.
If there is capacity, please note:
- Classes being visited must have completed the minimum activities (for Reception this is Grandad’s Birthday and Safe to Play or Stay Away). Please do not complete this form unless this has been completed or planned for before the firefighter visit.
- There is only one visit per school per year, so please consult with other teachers to see if other classes would also like a visit.
- The firefighters’ visit can be up to approximately 90 minutes so please work with other teachers to work out a timetable
- The firefighters are operational. This means they may not turn up, unfortunately we would be unlikely to be able to contact you if this is the case. Or they may be called away during the visit. Depending on individual circumstances they will try to rearrange the visit wherever possible.
- The risk assessment can be found here: Dorset & Wiltshire Fire Service | Risk Assessment for DWFRS visits
The information on this page can be found in this document for ease of printing if wished.
Thank you for your assistance in helping safeguard the children in your care by helping them learn how to stay safe.