Wiluna children enjoy swimming fun

One of the major challenges Royal Life Saving WA faces is the ensure all Western Australians have access to learn swimming and water safety skills. This is often a challenge in remote regional locations where there is a desperate shortage of qualified swim instructors to conduct these classes.

Finding instructors who are willing to travel to these remote communities can be challenging, and sometimes means children in these communities miss out on learning vital swimming and water safety skills. As part of our work to solve this problem Royal Life Saving WA recently sent swim instructor Zoe Ross from Perth to spend some time in the remote Mid-West community of Wiluna.

Zoe’s time in Wiluna was part of an important partnership with the Education Department, which sees Royal Life Saving send swim instructors to assist in the delivery of the Department of Education’s in-term swimming program in regional and remote communities. Zoe conducted the swimming lessons which culminated in the children taking part in a school swimming & lifesaving carnival.

Following on from this Zoe stayed on to conduct Water Safety Talks in the community and assist local Pool Manager Kane Dunkley-Cooper in running Swim for Fruit sessions at the pool. Swim for Fruit encourages children in regional and remote areas to participate in aquatic physical activity with a healthy afternoon tea at the end of each session, promoting physical activity and healthy lifestyles.
During two weekends of Swim for Fruit fun 60 kids came along to pool and had a great time swimming laps, playing some aquatic games and playing on the inflatables. After all the activity they were well and truly ready to enjoy an afternoon tea of healthy fruit snacks.

The team at the pool wrapped up all the fun with a special community barbeque during the final session. Swim for Fruit is sponsored by Healthway, who have partnered with Royal Life Saving WA to provide the program for over 10 years! These sessions in Wiluna were also supported by Principal Community Partner BHP.