Learn to Swim Week helps thousands of kids with free swimming lessons

Thousands of free swimming lessons were handed out across Australia for children aged under five as part of Learn to Swim Week 2015, the annual swim safety awareness campaign initiated by Poolwerx and supported by swim safety campaigner Laurie Lawrence.

Research conducted by Poolwerx showed a staggering 48 per cent of children aged under five weren’t receiving official swimming lessons and more than one third (36 per cent) of those who were weren’t doing so all year round, meaning many children weren’t receiving the necessary skills to survive in and around the water.

The findings also revealed almost three quarters of parents (71 per cent) said they weren’t confident their child could swim and 40 per cent didn’t believe their child’s swimming ability was adequate for their age.

Laurie Lawrence, ambassador for Learn to Swim Week says there is still a long way to go to reduce drowning deaths among children.

“Almost half of Aussie kids aged under five aren’t receiving qualified teaching on how to cope in an emergency water situation, which is what you get from official swimming lessons, and that scares me because it suggests children aren’t growing up with skills that could one day save their lives,” he says.

Learn to Swim Week also celebrates the importance of general water safety, particularly regarding backyard pools with Poolwerx’s research also revealing 39 per cent of pool owners didn’t inspect the safety of their pool area throughout the year, and despite it being a requirement, 44 per cent didn’t even have a CPR chart displayed.

A further two-thirds also indicated they couldn’t confidently perform CPR in an emergency situation, revealing pool owners in Australia needed a lesson on water safety.