Pilbara kids dive into Swim and Survive

Royal Life Saving WA is keen to see all Western Australian children able to swim a minimum of 50m freestyle by the end of primary school. Unfortunately, some children miss out on the opportunity to learn these vital swimming and water safety skills due to their cultural background, location or other social challenges.

We’re working with partners across the state to ensure at-risk children are given the opportunity to take part in Swim and Survive lessons and learn these crucial skills. Thanks to funding from the Town of Port Hedland, Lotterywest and Principal Community Partner BHP 12 children from Cassia Primary School in South Hedland and 7 participants from the Youth Involvement Council (YIC) are currently taking part in an eight-week after school Swim and Survive program at the South Hedland Aquatic Centre.

The program focuses on teaching key swimming skills for the 10 to 11 year-old age group, who may have missed out on taking part in swimming and water safety education, to ensure they have good swimming skills before the start high school. For the 6 to 7 year-old children taking part the focus is to build on basic swimming skill development.

The children have been thoroughly enjoying the lessons which are being conducted in small groups with qualified Swim and Survive instructors. We look forward to seeing the development of their skills over the course of the eight weeks!

As part of our focus on making swimming and water safety education accessible to at-risk groups in regional WA Royal Life Saving is also conducting Women’s Only Swim and Survive lessons for multicultural women in Port Hedland. This term’s classes began on Mother’s Day with six women taking part.

The program is still open for enrolments so please click the link below to find out more.

You can learn more about our Swim and Survive program for at-risk children in regional WA at the following link.