For Eleebana Public School students it became a reality when a Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service chopper landed on the school's oval last Thursday.

The school was hand-picked from more than 300 across the region to host the helicopter as a reward for participating in the service's schools program.

The program involved a safety talk by the service earlier in the year, where year 3 and 5 students were shown a video of a helicopter surf rescue.

Teachers at the school then took these safety messages and built some of their lessons around them.

Eleebana Public School deputy principal Carl Leonard said safety was one of the school's core values.

"We'll take any opportunity we can to raise kids' awareness of the importance of our emergency services," he said. "[The Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service] does an incredible job."

The 600 students also had the chance to hear a few hairy rescue stories from pilot Peter Cook and crewman Nathan Langham.