Subiaco Primary School Pool building futures
The swimming pool at the Subiaco Primary School has played an important role in Farris Tammerijn’s life so far. Farris is just 18 years old and works alongside Royal Life Saving Society WA’s pool operations team as the pool operator at the Subiaco Primary School.
That may not seem extraordinary on its own, but what is amazing is that Farris was himself a student at Subiaco Primary School from Pre-Primary to Year 7, graduating in 2010. “This pool is where I learnt to swim, doing in-term and Vacswim lessons, and developing my swimming skills. That learning has given me a great background around the pool, and enjoyment of swimming” says Farris.
In the past few years Farris has completed his pool lifeguard qualifications with Royal Life Saving Society WA, returning to Subiaco Primary to initially work as a lifeguard. “At the start I was managing pool parties and running games with kids, then I took the next step up to supervising a bit more as the senior lifeguard. As I was lifeguarding I saw the pool operations side of it and was interested in how it worked so I decided to do my pool operations certificate and expand my skills.”
Farris completed Pool Operations training through Royal Life Saving, taking on the practical component of the course at the WA Institute of Sport and Subiaco Primary. He now does a great job of ensuring the pool is well maintained and ready for the school and community to use
The Subiaco Primary School Pool is a unique facility as it’s not only used for school swimming carnivals and lessons but enjoyed by families within the school community as a whole. Farris says “there are weekend Swim and Survive lessons held here in the summer time, and it’s also used by school families. I think it’s great for families because the bigger pools around here are quite crowded and designed for swimming laps while this is a more relaxed environment to come and have fun with your friends and kids."
For Farris the Subiaco Primary School Pool has not only made a big impact on his life, but he sees its value for all children in the area. “Getting that basic grounding in swimming skills when you’re young is super important, you hear too often about people getting in trouble at the beach and river, but if they have that background learning and start when they are young later on they can go out and enjoy the water and safely have a great time."
He would encourage more young people to think about stepping into aquatics as a career “It’s really enjoyable. I started my Bronze Medallion training with Vacswim and then completed the rest of my qualifications through Royal Life Saving. I have found it a lot of fun and the training is always improving; there are always more steps you can take to improve your skills.”
To find out more about how you can step into the aquatics industry check out our training courses at the link below.
