Justan Galway, a pupil at St Therese de Lisieux on the Antrim Road, recently received a certificate of appreciation from the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service, for his help in dealing with an emergency call involving his mother.

She had been climbing the steps into her attic in her North Belfast home when she slipped and fell onto the landing and down the stairs. Thankfully her sister and son, Justan were on hand to help. They alerted the ambulance service immediately and while the paramedics were making their way from the nearby Ardoyne station, Justan remained very calm and followed, to the letter, the instructions from the call taker in the ambulance control centre.

The ambulance service visited the school on in the last week of term to deliver their community safety messages to the Year 5 and Year 7 pupils and to pay tribute to the actions of Justan.

John McPoland from the Ambulance Service remarked that, "Many people who phone the ambulance service are, quite understandably, somewhat excited and often a bit panicky. It is sometimes difficult to get information from them that can help us to help the patient. But Justan was very calm and did everything asked of him. He was able to find out from his mother exactly where the pain was and how bad it felt. We were then able to pass this information to the ambulance staff who were on their way to the call and they were able to arrive better prepared.

He was a little star and an example to all young people of how important a role they can play in helping the emergency services. He is a credit to his family, his school and most of all himself."

The school principal, Mrs Patricia Reid, was also fulsome in her praise for Justan "We, at St Therese, are very proud of Justan for remaining so calm throughout this incident. His mother is very lucky that he was around to help and, by his actions, he has shown how young people can play an important role in keeping other people within the community safe and sound. He is an inspiration to everyone else at the school" Pictured with Justan are his class teacher, Miss Eimear McMullan and his classroom assistant, Mrs Mary Shannon.