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Chantelle Firth, Six, Dies After Choking On Food At Teesside School

PA/The Huffington Post UK  |  By   |  Posted: 2/04/2012 14:49 Updated: 2/04/2012 14:49

A six-year-old girl has died after choking on a piece of food at her school.

Chantelle Firth was rushed to hospital after the accident at Pentland Primary School in Billingham, Teesside, but medics were unable to save her.

Police are investigating to determine how the incident occurred.

Shocked parents have said they are considering withdrawing their children from the school.

A Cleveland Police spokeswoman said officers were called to the school at 1.05pm on Thursday.

She said: "A six-year-old girl was taken to the University Hospital of North Tees and subsequently died.

"Our thoughts are with the family and we have specialist officers supporting them during this difficult time.

"A post-mortem has been conducted and the girl appears to have died as a result of choking on a piece of food."

Headteacher Hazel Ducker said Chantelle's death had devastated the community and said pupils and staff are in a state of shock.

"Chantelle was a very popular girl and our whole school community is devastated by the tragic loss of such a lovely, gentle and kind child," she said.

Read More http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/gazette-communities/2012/04/02/shock-as-girl-six-chokes-to-death-at-billingham-school-84229-30675687/#ixzz1qtBb1ww0

Parents at the school were informed about the tragedy.

One parent with a son at the Pentland Avenue school said she was considering pulling her child out of the school.

She told the Middlesbrough Gazette: "I am very concerned now. I am considering whether to send him back after the Easter holidays or try and get him into another school.

"I know children have accidents but you wonder how a child can choke to death."

Flowers and teddies have been left at the school gates in tribute.

An inquest was due to be opened on Monday.

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A six-year-old girl has died after choking on a piece of food at her school. Chantelle Firth was rushed to hospital after the accident at Pentland Primary School in Billingham, Teesside, but medics...
A six-year-old girl has died after choking on a piece of food at her school. Chantelle Firth was rushed to hospital after the accident at Pentland Primary School in Billingham, Teesside, but medics...
 
 
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
cheesesteak wid
109 Fans
 
10:20 PM on 04/04/2012
these parents who are thinking of pulling their kids out of that school are overreacting. Choking hazards are everywhere, switching schools won't help, unless Pentland Primary does not educate their staff in dealing with choking- Heimlich manuever.
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salemslot5
0 Fans
05:19 AM on 04/04/2012
Condolences to all her family who must be in terrible pain and totally devastated by their loss and all her friends who will miss her so much, Its a parents worse nightmare, to lose their precious child, when they are little you can be there for them and keep them safe from harm but as they grow up you have to hand that responsibility to others to protect them the best that they can.
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sueharrisrowland
2 Fans
04:22 PM on 04/03/2012
My sympathy to the family of this very sad tragedy!
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Delfuller
12 Fans
01:44 PM on 04/03/2012
Tragic but I do not think you can blame the school. This is terrible freak accident that could have happened anywhere.
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Booface51
3 Fans
12:42 AM on 04/04/2012
And you know that because?
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leevonnie316
2 Fans
12:55 PM on 04/04/2012
during school dinner time teachers can not watch every child eating in the canteen or outside so maybe no-one noticed andthe kids around her didn't realise she needed help is what delfuller was meaning
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bertybert
12 Fans
12:37 PM on 04/03/2012
Sincere condolences to the family. Can not even begin to think what they are going through.
RIP .
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gimmeanamethen
saying it like it is
80 Fans
 
12:29 PM on 04/03/2012
WOW! how awful for the family

thoughts and prayers go with you.

R.I.P
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Liam Allmand
4 Fans
12:06 PM on 04/03/2012
This is so sad! Where was the first aider?? It is so easy to prevent or deal with choking until paramedics arrive! Every teacher should have training!
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Philomena Weir
3 Fans
11:52 AM on 04/03/2012
tragic loss of a child
thoughts and prayers to her family
R.I.P. chantelle
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Barbara Longstaff
105 Fans
11:50 AM on 04/03/2012
We cannot really comment until the Post Mortem has been carried out. She might have choked because of a closure in the throat one does not know. May she Rest in Peace and my sincere condolences to her parents and family. A lot of children these days are not taught how to eat, and as I look after my grandson a lot I have taught him likeEdmurfin stated to chew his food a lot and to eat with his mouth closed and breath through his nose. They do need teaching for their own safety. I have to be more vigilant with him as he suffers with Asthma also.
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Booface51
3 Fans
12:47 AM on 04/04/2012
Very good point about teaching our children how to chew their food properly. I think a lot of what we call table manners has been lost by eating in front of the TV. My nephew said that the dining room at his school is so far from his last morning class that by the time he gets there he only has ten to fifteen minutes to eat after queuing behind everbody else. That doesn't help them to eat their food correctly.
My condolences go to the family of this poor little girl.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Barbara Longstaff
105 Fans
06:43 PM on 04/04/2012
I sympathise with your nephew, in my grandson's school there are 2 sittings, (One at 12 noon) and they have to finish by 12.45 and another being at (1pm) and they finish at 1.45. they go into school again at 2.pm and finish at 3.30pm so everyone has time to eat. There are 2 dinner ladies voluntary going around helping those who have difficulty which is good. Yes poor little girl and her family must be absolutely devastated.
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edmurfin
Old man, on Bonus Time:-)
132 Fans
11:13 AM on 04/03/2012
Poor child. There's no mention of any first aid given but that doesn't mean a member of staff didn't try. A painful time for all concerned. As a parent, I taught my kids to chew their food with mouths shut and also to breathe through their noses rather than mouth breathe, as so many, children and adults, seem to do these days. Mouth breathing, and chewing with mouth open, increase the risk of accidental aspiration of morsels of food.
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victormeldrew
11 Fans
09:55 AM on 04/03/2012
What a tragedy ! Could it have been avoided ? Who knows ? We can only rely upon sensationalist journalism for a glimpse of the possibilities .
The Heimlich Manouver (now referred to as the Abdominal Thrust - as it's inventor was unable to claim royalties for it's widespread use) - is mandatory teaching in all Belgian Primary Schools , as indeed is CPR , for ALL PUPILS over the age of 6 !
Maybe a lesson to be learned from this sad, sad case , for all Primaries in this country ?
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keeracakes
0 Fans
09:28 AM on 04/03/2012
my brother also choked to death a school aged 11 :( he was at a special needs school,school was under staffed,no info passed from teacher to teacher etc,un prepared for an emergany,and my brother was not being supervised while eating his lunch despite this being in his care plan! after a long investigation school admited liability! none sacked but most teachers left their jobs and some left the country! i know it sounds harsh but if these teachers admitted their work load was too heavy and asked for help this would never have happened!!
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Saint wright
Dyslexic old chippy
284 Fans
 
09:13 AM on 04/03/2012
every body particurlarly those that work with kids needs first class first aid training including mums and dads & grand parents. After seeing a man die on Euston station 40 years ago and didnt know how to help.
i took first aid training.which meant i could give CPR on 5 occasions when people had stopped breathing, given lots of other first aid over the last 40 years and never have regreted the training?

So sorry for the girl and family, this might have been prevented?
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zoekpock
1 Fans
09:07 AM on 04/03/2012
This infuriates me! What where the school staff thinking!?!?! I work as a Teaching Assistant in a Primary School and I've have peadiatric first aid training.... It seems the staff working in this school obviously do not! We are trained to know how to handle choking situations in babies, toddlers, children and adults specifically! It's one of the biggest parts to the first aid course! This school should be disgusted and ashamed at themselves for not providing their staff with adequate training or maybe they were just too stupid to do something to help this poor child! My thoughts go out to her family at this extremely sad time that could have been prevented. RIP little one.
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anne31
117 Fans
09:56 AM on 04/03/2012
quite agree.where were the staff when this little girl choked? RIP.
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fluffylayton
0 Fans
11:44 AM on 04/03/2012
the thing is the teachers that were prob first aid trained maybe were on their lunch break also ,sooo the children were maybe in the care of 'dinner ladys' who wont have been first aid trained !!
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zoekpock
1 Fans
01:49 PM on 04/03/2012
Most MSA's (Dinner Ladies) are required to have first aid training. That and a teacher/teaching assistant MUST be present during break and lunch times to oversee children as further precautions. This school is a prime example of why we need first aiders present at ALL times!! I'm a teaching assistant as I said before and I'm rotad on for break times on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdays and the first aid room on Fridays! Why is this school not putting that into place?! We ALWAYS have a member of teaching staff that is first aid trained out at break and lunch times, why don't they? It's no excuse! This poor little girl could have been saved, now her family are grieving for their child because the staff were not adequately trained/were not present to help their child. I feel so, so much for this family! No parents should ever see their child/children die. I'm so sorry for their loss and so angry at the poor level of first aid/common sense the school she went to is lacking.
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Laurin Angela Young
Liberal Christian
418 Fans
 
09:03 AM on 04/03/2012
This is so sad. I know accidents happen; but, why wasn't there a teacher who was CPR and First Aid certified? My prayers to her parents. No parent should have to bury their child, especially one so young. I hope they get grief counselors for the children who witnessed her death. RIP Chantelle Firth.
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