Bedfordview swim school offers water safety classes to underprivileged
“After doing some research on the latest drowning fatalities with children in our local community we felt the need to introduce a water safety month at our school,” stated the owner of the school Kate Wood.
Owned by a woman, a swimming school in Bedfordview is running a water safety programme during the month of August.
Also read: Safety tips for being around water
“After doing some research on the latest drowning fatalities with children in our local community we felt the need to introduce a water safety month at our school,” said Kate Wood.
Also read: Keep them safe near water
Wood said the instructors had attended the latest swim South Africa (SA) conference in Kwa-Zulu Natal (KZN) where the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) had given them the latest stats on drownings in SA.
“They estimate that nine double decker buses full of children drown each year. Dr Cleeve Robertson, NSRI CEO estimates that in South Africa there are 2 000 fatal drowning incidents of which 600 are children each year. We, therefore, estimate that approximately 20 000 people suffer from fatal and non-fatal drowning each year,” said Wood.
“According to the Medical Research Council, those most at risk of drowning are children from poor communities,” she added.
Wood approached the non-profit organisation SonShine pre-school in Bedfordview and asked them to be part of Little Fishes Water Safety Campaign.
The swim school took on children from the non-profit pre-school who they will teach about water safety during August.
“We have 36 children ranging from four years to six years old. Equipping children with the knowledge about water safety as well as developing their natural love of water is an invaluable tool and is most rewarding.”
Little Fishes Swimming School is accredited by Swimming South Africa.
“All our teachers are Swim SA qualified. It’s important for parents to check and ask to see qualifications.”
Wood suggests parents ask the following questions before enrolling their child into a swim school:
• Are they qualified, have these qualifications been endorsed by the governing body of swimming in South Africa?
• Are they updated each year?
• Have the relevant instructors maintained a certain amount of Continuous Professional Development (CPD) points?
“Parents are too trusting when enrolling their children into extra-mutual activities. All qualified professionals are required to obtain CPD points i.e. doctors /dentist as do swimming professionals. Unfortunately, the teaching of swimming is not as regulated as it should be,” she said.
“A big thank you to our instructors at Little Fishes Swimming School and the two transport companies Plan B Transport and Happy Faces Transport for donating their time to the Water Safety campaign.”
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