News

Vouchers available to fund kids water safety classes

By Simon Ruppert

Nov 1, 2021

The Benalla Aquatic Centre is a great place for swimming lessons. Photo by Fraser Walker-Pearce

The state government is making sure all students in Northern Victoria have the opportunity to catch up on vital swimming and water safety skills, with vouchers for catch-up lessons missed during the pandemic.

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State Member for Northern Victoria Jaclyn Symes said swimming and water safety education had been part of the Victorian Curriculum since 2016, but restrictions had meant many schools had not been able to deliver practical swimming lessons during the past year.

“School swimming is always a highlight of the school year — and its essential that students across the north east be able to experience the fun and vital education that our water safety programs provide,” Ms Symes said.

All government and Catholic primary schools that deliver swimming programs will provide students who missed out on lessons in 2021 with vouchers for lessons at their school’s usual facilities using their accrued swimming funding.

The vouchers will be available this term — with bookings able to be made up until the end of June 2022.

Schools will liaise with their usual swim school to confirm the eligible students, the number of swimming lessons students can access and when they will be available — and parents will be provided with the voucher to book lessons at the designated swim school for after school, weekends or during school holidays.

When the pandemic began in 2020, the Department of Education worked with Life Saving Victoria to develop classroom-based resources to teach vital water safety, and students have continued to engage with these online resources during the past year to keep building their knowledge of the water while pools were closed.

A new interactive in-class program will also be available to students from this term, designed by Life Saving Victoria to ensure children meet the knowledge component of the Victorian Water Safety Certificate.

The certificate is being updated to align with the National Swimming and Water Safety Framework, setting out the swimming and water safety skills and knowledge that every Victorian student should have by the end of primary school.

Since 2017, the government has invested more than $101.5 million to continue swimming and water safety education programs in government, Catholic and specialist schools, and to introduce these programs to government English language schools.