STUDENTS of a town school have been described as "crucially important" in saving a man's life.

Six students from Boundary Oak Independent School in Fareham were on their first leg of their planned trek as part of their Duke of Edinburgh expedition when they came across an elderly man who wasn't breathing in the South Downs National Park.

The students, aged 14 and 15 provided first aid to the man who was unresponsive, helped him regain conciousness and called the emergency services using the phone application, What3Words to pinpoint their location.

Once the man was safely with the emergency services team, the student then continued their expedition.

Each student has since been awarded the Courage and Resilience Cup during the school’s annual ‘Speech Day’, where students are recognised for various achievements from throughout the year.

Now, a medical professional has described the efforts of the youngsters as being "crucially important" to saving the man's life.

The man was said to be "critically ill" when he arrived at the hospital and the students’ actions ‘directly contributed’ to the gentleman’s recovery according to the health pro.

He has since made a full recovery and has been able to return home.

Caitlin Pestell, one of the students who discovered the man said: “It was quite a scary experience to look back on and one that we will never forget.

"At the time, when we found the man, we just ran towards him and did what we knew we had to do to help him.

"We all had different roles straight away and it was most definitely a whole team effort – we couldn’t have helped him without each other. We have been thinking about him a lot since the incident and were so pleased when we heard he made a full recovery and could go home to his family”.

Mr James Polansky, Headmaster at Boundary Oak School added: “It was a perfect textbook response. Having my pupils literally save someone’s life is my proudest moment as Headmaster and a fitting end to what’s been an incredibly tough year but where we’ve all pulled together to ensure continued good outcomes for our children and our community”.