It is important for Parents to understand the benefits and what to expect with their childs Swimming and Water Safety Program during their Primary School years. In this articlae we explore what you should expect at a minimum.

Key Features of Programs

At this stage of the learn to swim journey the Swim School programs should focus on the swimming and water safety skills that help a student to survive in the water. Students will become comfortable in the water and by the

end of the stage have the ability to perform personal survival and rescue skills.

• Ages from 5 years to 12 years

• Focus on personal survival, water safety and lifesaving to complement strong swimming skills

• Active practise, activity, and scenario-based learning

• Progressions to achieve National Benchmarks and beyond

What can I expect my child to learn?

This stage provides opportunities to develop greater proficiency across the learning areas and to increase endurance levels. Students learn the different swimming and survival strokes and when and how they can be modified for different situations. Students will expand their survival skills through combining floating,

sculling and treading water, using lifejackets and learning strategies they can use when they or others experience difficulty in the water. Students develop greater awareness of dangers and the ability to identify hazards inherent in a range of aquatic environments. Students will explore the principles of rescue including selfpreservation

and are introduced to non-swimming rescues and how to respond to an aquatic emergency in any environment.

This stage enables students to develop knowledge and skills to safely enjoy the water. They will start to develop an understanding of their personal strengths and limitations in aquatic survival and lifesaving skills.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this a student should have developed a positive attitude toward learning swimming and water safety. They should be able to identify safety rules in a range of aquatic environments, perform a range of personal survival skills including a survival sequence simulating an accidental entry in an open

water environment.Specifically this includes:

• Understanding and respecting rules for a range of aquatic environments

• Demonstrating entries and exits for a range of environments

• Floating, sculling or treading water for 2 minutes and signalling for help

• Performing a surface dive swimming underwater, searching to recover an object from deep water

• Swimming continuously for a distance of 50 metres

• Responding to an emergency and rescuing a person using a non-swimming rescue technique

• Performing a survival sequence

What Qualifications should my teacher have?

All Swim Teachers who are teaching School aged children should hold unit of competencies which is nationally recognised from the Sport, Fitness and Recreation Training package. Upon successful completion of all assessment requirements, candidates will be issued a Statement of Attainment for the following units:

• SISCAQU008 Instruct water familiarisation, buoyancy and mobility skills

• SISCAQU009 Instruct water safety and survival skills

• SISCAQU010 Instruct swimming strokes

• SISCAQU002 Perform basic water rescues

Parent and Carer Involvement

Parent and carer involvement is a massive factor for children’s enjoyment and engagement in the learning process as well as their skill progression and achievement. The best way to do this is to be actively involved and get wet!

Children will participate at their own ability and progress through levels as they acquire skills and knowledge. It’s important to consolidate the skills before moving on to more complex and challenging tasks.

You as a Parent should also be receiving a range of safety information to help understand and educate your child. This includes such things as:

• Statistics and Facts of Drowning

• Identification of a range of aquatic environments

• Hazards and Risks in a range of aquatic environments

• Safety rules for a range of aquatic environments

• How to respond to an aquatic emergency