Around 400 people needlessly die from drowning in the UK every year and thousands more suffer injury, some life-changing, through near-drowning experiences.
Putting these figures into context, one person dies every 20 hours in the UK and drowning is a leading cause of accidental death of children in the UK.
However, thanks to a new partnership between the Drowning Prevention Charity and Olympic swimmer, Rebecca Adlington, more children will now be able to learn how to be a lifeguards,
The Royal Life Saving Society UK (RLSS UK) has trained eleven swimming teachers in essential water safety education in bid to reduce preventable deaths.
The teachers, who are all associated with leading learn-to-swim company, Becky Adlington’s Swim Stars, were given training which resulted in them becoming RLSS UK Rookie Lifeguard Instructors. This means they have the vital knowledge to be able to go into schools to deliver water safety education to children.
RLSS UK’s Rookie Lifeguard programme gives children aged between eight and12-years-old the skills they need to be confident and enjoy water safely. It also gives children valuable self-survival, self-rescue and rescue skills as well as giving them the skills to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
“Our Rookie Lifeguard programme gives vital water safety education to children. By developing the swimming teachers existing water safety knowledge, they are now able to give the community’s children skills and awareness of water safety that could potential save their own life or lives of others," RLSS UK’s Community Drowning Prevention Co-ordinator for Manchester, Aaron Dhanda, said:
"We often hear of children who have used their skills learnt throughout the Rookie Lifeguard programme to save the life of a friend or family member.”
The course comes following a partnership with Becky Adlington’s Swim Stars to help prevent drowning at a local level.
On completion of the course Becky Adlingtons’ qualified Rookie Lifeguard Instructors will be going into schools on the run up to RLSS UK’s Drowning Prevention Week (Saturday, 18th to Sunday, 26th June), delivering water safety workshops including how to self-rescue should they get into difficulties.
Swim Stars National Account Manager, Angela Audsley, said: “We are delighted to join RLSS UK in this valuable initiative. Becky is concerned that almost half of the pupils leaving primary school each year cannot swim properly. Whether it’s swimming lessons or water safety awareness, we fully support anything which reduces the risk around water for thousands of children.”
To find out more about RLSS UK’s Rookie Lifeguard programme and Drowning Prevention Week, click here.
