Drowning in Pools

Drowning is the leading cause of preventable death in children under the age of five in Australia. Between 1 July 2002 and 30 June 2017, New South Wales alone saw 148 children under five tragically lose their life to drowning. More than half of these fatalities were in

home swimming pools, including backyard swimming pools, portable pools and outdoor spas. For every toddler drowning death another ten children were admitted to hospital as a result of non-fatal drowning, many of whom will suffer lifelong consequences.

Child drowning statistics indicate that the most common means for a child to gain access to the backyard pool area is through a faulty pool fence, a gate propped open or a lack of gate/fence entirely. In 100% of child drowning cases in home swimming

pools, active adult supervision had either lapsed or was entirely absent.

About the Waddles Program

The Waddles program aims to deliver education to parents and children around the different risks around varied water ways.

Waddles- At the Pool focuses on teaching young children about the dangers around backyard pools in a fun and engaging way and hopes to equip them with the skills to recognise dangerous situations and what they should do to stay safe.

Young Children are inherently attracted to water, but do not necessarily understand the consequences should they fall in. Even young children who may possess basic aquatic skills are not water safe or ‘drown-proof’. As they may panic or forget their skills in an emergency or unfamiliar environment.

The Story

The story follows a family of ducks during a walk to the park. Each duckling encounters a swimming pool with a different, yet common, danger. The repeated message throughout stresses two points – that these environments are dangerous to them, and they should be accompanied by an adult when near water.

This is reinforced by the tagline ‘At the pool and on the sand, always hold and adult’s hand’.

Although the ducks in the animation do not enter a swimming pool during the story, Royal Life Saving NSW encourages parents and carers to involve their children in water familiarisation and learn to swim classes from a young age, and to participate safely in all aquatic pursuits.

Activity Sheets

A variety of activity sheets are accessible on the website, they are available for download and include the following:

• Dot to dots

• Colouring in

• Mazes

• Spot the difference

Syllabus Links

Certificate

At the completion of the Preschool Water Safety Program, teachers can award participating children with a certificate to recognise each student as a ‘Water Smart Kid’.

This certificate is available for download on the website under Delivery Resources. Centre’s are encouraged to present a certificate to each child who has watched the animation or attended a reading of the book, attempted some of the activities and has engaged with any additional water safety education delivered by your centre.

Royal Life Saving would also like to recognise each participating centre for your involvement in the program and, more importantly, your contribution towards child drowning prevention.

A centre certificate is available for download on the website under Delivery Resources. We encourage you to print and display this certificate at the completion of the program to promote your centre as being ‘Water Smart'.