As many as one in five children will leave primary school this year not even having the skills to swim the length of an Olympic swimming pool warns Royal Life Saving.
Its CEO Rob Bradley says the issue is of grave concern as potentially thousands of Australian school children are leaving primary school with virtually no ability to swim and being unable to demonstrate the basic survival and water safety techniques that could save their lives in an emergency.
Royal Life Saving estimates that over 50,000 children aged 11-12 will leave primary school this year not even having the skills to swim the length of an Olympic swimming pool. Royal Life Saving warn that the issue has now become a “ticking time bomb” that will impact families and communities across the country in years to come, as well as putting further pressure on drowning rates.
Royal Life Saving warns children without basic swimming and water safety skills at Primary school age then become self conscious and find ways of avoiding water as they grow older. This makes these children as teenagers highly vulnerable to peer pressure from friends encouraging them to take life threatening risks on, in or near water.
In response to this issue Royal Life Saving is calling for a greater focus on swimming and water safety skills. It says that almost 15 million Australian children have completed its highly successful “Swim and Survive” program since 1980, and it believes it will need to increase this to one million children a year in response to the problem. The Swim and Survive program is proudly supported by UNCLE TOBYS® and is available through schools, at pools and is often used by government supported vacation water safety schemes.
The Royal Life Saving 2010 National Drowning Report shows 56 children aged under 17 years drowned in Australia in 2009/2010, 80% being male. Rob Bradley says the increase in drowning in school aged children is a huge wake up call to all Australians about the critical need for water safety education.
A number of UNCLE TOBYS® Ambassadors are supporting the Swim and Survive program including Olympic medalists Eamon Sullivan, Olympic Emily Seebohm, Grant Hackett and Cate Campbell.
UNCLE TOBYS Ambassador Eamon Sullivan said, “This partnership is focused on getting more children to have the valuable swimming and water safety skills they need to stay out of trouble. Swim and Survive is about personal survival and teaching children all kinds of useful water safety skills.”
Rob Bradley said “It’s all about education. It’s all about saving children’s lives. Royal Life Saving’s Swim and Survive program provides a pathway for children from 6 months to 14 years old. Starting that young is not everyone’s cup of tea, but it is a good idea to help parents to become more water aware and to understand how to help their children grow and understand the importance of water safety.”
“Our focus now is ‘at risk’ communities which include those living in rural and remote areas, Indigenous communities and other groups who may need help in embracing the Australian culture of water safety. The support from UNCLE TOBYS® is fantastic. They’ve already committed over $500,000 to the Swim and Survive initiative and more is being generated through fundraising events.”
Royal Life Saving is using funds raised to provide free lessons to financially disadvantaged children through the Swim and Survive Fund, a program that subsidises swimming and water safety lessons for those who would ordinarily miss out.
To find out more, all people need to do is go to www.swimandsurvive.com.au
