For our primary school children, Water Skills for Life is the essential beginning of life-long learning.
Water Skills for Life
Kids Have Fun and Learn Water Safety
A child's ability to stay afloat and safe in water is something every parent wants. Yet our record in New Zealand of child deaths from preventable drowning is poor.
Please support your children and the Water Skills for Life programme in your school or community.
It is now accepted that learning to swim in isolation is not enough to save a life and that water safety skills should form the basis of aquatic education.
In partnership with Swimming New Zealand, whose educators provide aquatic professional development to school and swim teachers, and our funded partners including regional sports trusts, councils and swim schools, our goal is that every child will learn Water Skills For Life across the country.
About
Water Skills For Life was developed for children in Years 1 - 8 to learn water safety.
Based on 27 core skills, it establishes broad fundamental competencies for life-long water safety.
Children are taught Water Skills for Life at school, either by their school teacher in the school pool or community or by a swim teacher at a community pool. Schools can decide how they teach their students Water Skills For Life, to reflect the needs of the students and the nature of your local environment.
Children learn these skills with Water Skills For Life
Click on each link to read about what's involved with each activity and download the teacher resource as a pdf.
Water safety and awareness skills
Recognise an emergency for yourself or others. Know who to call for help and how
Know, understand and respect water safety rules, hazards and risks around the home, farm and around pools
Know, understand and respect water safety rules, hazards and risk in natural environments such as at the beach, offshore, river or lake.
Know, understand and respect water safety rules, hazards and risks for water activities such as swimming, water sports and boating
Know how and why t make safe decisions for yourself and others
Know how to recognise hypothermia and how to treat it
Getting in and out of the water
Get in and out of the water safely in any environment.
Perform this sequence with a buddy watching: check the depth of the water, check that the area is safe, jump into deep water, float on back for 1 minute to control breathing, return to edge and exit
Going under the water - Submersion
Get under water, open eyes and control breathing
Pick up an object from under the water
Dive from a horizontal position in the water and move underwater for a slow count to five
Floating on the water - Personal Buoyancy
Float, then regain feet
Control breathing while floating on back for at least 1 minute
Scull head-first and/or scull feet first for at least 3 minutes
Tread water for at least 3 minutes in deep water
Perform this sequence in deep water: correctly fit a lifejacket then tread water, scull, float or a mixture for 3 minutes while controlling breathing. Then return to edge and get out of the water
Perform this sequence for five minutes: signal for help while treading water, sculling, floating, or a mixture, and while controlling breathing
Rolling and turning in the water - Orientation
Horizontal rotation (front to back and back to front)
Horizontal to vertical rotation and vice versa (front or back to upright and return)
Vertical rotation (half rotation and full rotation) around the body’s vertical axis
What to do in an emergency - Safety of self and others
Float and signal for help with and without a flotation aid
Do a reach rescue and a throw rescue with a buddy
Perform this sequence: correctly fit a lifejacket, do a step entry into deep water, float in the H.E.L.P. position, then with a couple of buddies or a group form a huddle, return to edge and get out
Moving through the water - Propulsion
Move 15m non-stop, using any form of propulsion
Move through the water environments of all kinds (currents, waves, depth – in situ or simulated)
Move 50m and/or 3 minutes non-stop, confidently and competently – using any form of propulsion on their side, front, back, or a mixture
Move 100m and/or 5 minutes non-stop, confidently and competently – using any form of propulsion on their side, front, back, or a mixture
Drowning is the number one cause of recreational death and the second highest cause of death as result of unintentional injury among young people aged 1-24 years. In 2019 the 10-14-year old age group had the highest number of ACC claims for water related injuries and there were almost 6,000 water related injury claims for children aged 0-14 years, (ACC, 2020). With this in mind, the focus of interventions in order to achieve the end outcome of culture change for this age group is delivery of the Water Skills for Life (WSFL) programme. This programme helps establish broad, fundamental competencies for life-long water safety.
Water Skills For Life