Swim for Fruit fun for Hedland students

Primary school students from four local Hedland schools have enjoyed weekly Swim for Fruit fun at the South Hedland Aquatic Centre right throughout Term Four. The program was run by Royal Life Saving WA and made possible thanks to funding from Healthway and Principal Community Partner BHP.

The Go for 2&5 Swim for Fruit program, which has been running and regional WA for more than a decade, was created to support vulnerable and at-risk communities, and address the over-representation of Aboriginal children in drowning statistics. The program also aims to contribute towards improving health gaps between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians through increasing physical activity and nutrition, by providing fruit as an incentive for swimming laps and/or participating in aquatic physical activity.

Royal Life Saving WA Pilbara Development Offer Lauren Thompson says it was great to see the children so engaged in the activities. “The students were keen to hit the water with a splash each week as the weather warmed up throughout Spring and into Summer. The local pool was definitely the place to be after school was out for the day!”

The weekly sessions involved the children working on their freestyle kick development, completing laps of the pool and then some well-deserved chill time after all the hard work, with lots of fun hanging out on the inflatables in the pool. We look forward to seeing these children continue their aquatic journey when Swim For Fruit returns in Term One next year, but in the meantime we hope to see them enjoying their local aquatic centre to cool down over the summer holidays, practising the swimming skills they’ve learnt throughout 2021!