Water Safety Education

Royal Life Saving is Australia’s largest provider of water safety education. A wide range of our programs are delivered in schools, pools and community centres daily. They are designed to build awareness of dangers in aquatic environments and to arm students with lifesaving skills used in both prevention and rescue.

Vulnerability and Drowning

Research conducted by Royal Life Saving Society – Australia shows that as many as 1 in 5 children will leave primary school this year without the ability to swim and survive. That is an estimated half a million children that have left school in the past 10 years without the skills to swim the length of an Olympic swimming pool or keep themselves afloat for two minutes – the National benchmark.

The importance of swimming and water safety education in schools has never been more pressing. Trends in drowning deaths for primary and secondary school aged children show that many drowning deaths occur in open water environments, particularly rivers. It is vital that children develop strong swimming skills but more importantly, essential skills in personal survival, basic rescue and water safety.

Swim and Survive is a national water safety program which aims to prevent drowning by fostering knowledge and understanding of water safety skills, while promoting fun in, on or around water. To learn more about our swimming and water safety education programs available to schools click here.