A BURNLEY nursery is sponsoring parents to learn paediatric first aid to prevent another tragedy.

Le Monde Petit nursery, in Bank Parade, is paying for its mums and dads to take a course run by Millie's Trust in case they have to deal with an emergency.

The non-profit charity was set up by former Padiham Primary and Ivy Bank High schools pupil Joanne Thomspon and her husband Dan after their daughter Millie choked to death in October 2012.

In 2013, a coroner investigating Millie's death said all nursery school staff should undergo paediatric first aid training after an inquest jury concluded that the nine-month-old died of misadventure.

She choked on shepherd's pie on her third full day at a nursery in Cheadle Hulme, Greater Manchester, and South Manchester Coroner John Pollard wrote to the-then Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove to ask that all nursery staff have such training.

The courses cover a range of situations, including choking, wounds and bleeding, meningitis, burns, scalds and poisons.

Le Monde Petit nursery manager Elise Vanden said: “The course is normally £20 per person but we felt it is such an important skill to learn that we wanted to help our parents by funding the spaces.

"We have had such an amazing response from our parents interested in taking part - over 40 names have been put forward - that we have booked two courses with 20 spaces available on each."

The second set of training takes place on Saturday, July 4.

Parents Becky and Andy Nolan described the training as a 'tremendous opportunity'.

Becky added: "We have discussed learning basic First Aid for years but through a combination of time and work constraints plus the uncertainty of not knowing where we could get training, this has not been possible until now."

Another parent, Charlotte Harston, said she would feel more confident helping a toddler in distress after the course.

She said: "The invaluable knowledge I have received from Millie's Trust will benefit me, my family and others and I recommend that anyone wanting to learn family first aid take the course."