Description
Swimming pools are hazardous places without the right care and attention. This award is designed to promote awareness to the swimmers about the dangers of the water and environment that they have entered into.
Swimmers must be aware of the pool rules, how to behave around water and how to enter and exit the water safely. Reinforcing where is a good place to swim and with whom, who to contact if you see danger or someone in trouble and what to do if you fall into water.
This award is designed to give parents peace of mind when going on holiday or when they are around water that their child knows how to stay safe in and around water.
This award takes into account keeping themselves safe when around water, whether that be a pond, a river, a lake or a canal. How to get back to the side and self rescue. This therefore aligns with competency three from the Department for Education for schools which schools have to assess and state on their school websites. More information about this can be found in our school dedicated area.
Additional needs
Being safe around water is key for all adults and parents. For parents and carers of children with additional needs this sometimes can be an additional concern with the children’s understanding of the dangers.
This award is open for you to interpret and award as appropriate, it could be understanding of pool rules or also safety when going on holiday and staying away from the water or edge.
This award can also can be transformed to look at individuals personal situation such as the safest way for a child with physical needs to enter and exit the water.
Lesson ideas
Encourage games that promote water safety, ones that promote returning to the side after jumping or pushing away from the side.
Swimmers, one by one, push away/jump into the water to an out stretched woggle on own. Hold onto the woggle and then turn and return to a safe place. This evolves to a swimmer pushing/jumping away from a safe place, rotating around returning to that place without any additional support. As a swimmers confidence increases the distance can be increased they come away from the wall. The swimmer needs to be competent to do this with aids before progressing and reducing the support with aids.
Create games that practice turning onto their back from their front. You can shout to the swimmers to stop and turn on to their backs mid swim and star float. Explain and encourage this manoeuvre if a swimmer gets out of breath easily or they become tired quickly.
The ability to treading water is for the more confident swimmers, they must keep their head above the water. Progressing (when the swimmer is strong enough to tread water without using their arms) to waving an arm and calling for attention.
They have spotted someone in danger, so who do they Call for help or who to go to, for help. What objects are used for water safety in the different water environments? eg, buoyancy rings, poles etc . Discuss job roles eg, lifeguards, RLSS, coast guard
Discussions of safe places to swim and do’s and don’ts for all bodies of water. Swimming pools, garden ponds, lakes, sea, large puddles, streams and rivers etc
Include part lessons where goggles are not worn so the swimmer can experience what it feels like.
Encourage swimmers not to panic and remember what they’ve been taught.
Older swimmers can experience how it feels like to swim in clothes (shorts/t shirt or pyjama’s), as most often anyone falling in to water will be fully dressed and being dressed totally alters the way you feel and move in the water.
There are many available links to help promote water safety as well as a water safety week.
