Ballyclare High School has received a defibrillator for its entry in a national engineering contest. Chris Graham, Katie Jackson, Daniel Orr and Lana Robb each received an Engineering Excellence award in the recent Sentinus Big Bang competition.

The pupils competed against hundreds of others from across Northern Ireland to design a device that enables signals from a car’s anti-lock braking system to be integrated with tyre-pressure-monitoring sensors manufactured by Schrader Electronics in Antrim.

Ballyclare High was presented with the defibrillator by Joy Taggart of Belfast-based HeartSine Technologies, which manufactures the machines in Belfast and exports them to 70 countries. She said: “It’s a great privilege to present one of our defibrillators to Ballyclare High School in recognition of their engineering prowess.”

She added: “It is a common misconception that sudden cardiac arrest only affects those who have an inactive lifestyle or are elderly. It often strikes without warning, and it affects people from all walks of life, regardless of how old or physically active they are.

"The best protection against this potentially fatal condition is to ensure that Automated External Defibrillators are common in public buildings, including schools.”

Ballyclare High School teacher Paul Wilson said: “We always encourage our pupils to embrace their creative talents and use their imaginations to come up with solutions to everyday problems.

"We are extremely proud of them for achieving such a high accolade and winning the school a life-saving defibrillator which, in itself, is a product of engineering excellence.”