Water safety education for School of the Air students

Isolated Pilbara students from the Port Hedland School of the Air (SOTA) recently enjoyed a water safety education session with Royal Life Saving WA Pilbara Development Officer Lauren Thompson.

The Port Hedland SOTA is one of five Schools of the Air in WA and provides educational services to children from Kindergarten to Year 6 living in remote and isolated locations across the Pilbara region. 

Children enrolled in SOTA often live on remote cattle stations, in small Aboriginal communities or micro tourism industries and do not have access to a mainstream school. They communicate daily with their teachers via online channels and get together with their peers throughout the year for mini camps and other special events.

Lauren visited the students on Friday 12th March to deliver swimming lessons and a water safety education session to the group. “School of the Air kids don’t miss out because of the remoteness here in the Pilbara!” said Lauren.

“After some fun in the pool with Swim and Survive lessons, the children were entertained with ‘The Adventures of Dippy Duck’ water safety story and were able to participate in a Pilbara-specific water safety education session.”

“The children were taught about inland waterways and the various bodies of water that they have in their home surrounds, such as troughs, bores, irrigation channels and tanks. These are very different to the commonly thought of bodies of water and the added danger that accompanies such is very real.”

“The need to educate our remote and rural Pilbara kids about the waterways they encounter in comparison to children who are raised in metro areas is vitally important and educates these children with life-long knowledge that they can share with others.”

Each child was given their own copy of ‘The Adventures of Dippy Duck’ and a small Dippy to take home. The program is one of many regional water safety talks being made possible thanks to funding from Principal Community Partner BHP. 

Learn more about the Royal Life Saving WA Water Safety Talks program at the link below.