St George Swim Academy Kogarah and Aquatica Swim Academy Caringbah are supporting national Learn2Swim Week this month by offering free swimming lessons for children under five, in a bid to kerb childhood drowning.
Chris Hartzenberg of Poolwerx Beverly Hills and Sylvania, the company behind the week-long event, is urging parents to take advantage of the deal during October 2-9.
“Last year there were tragically 29 drowning deaths in children aged 0-4 years, with three quarters of these deaths resulting from a fall into the water,” he said.
“It is so important to familiarise kids with water at an early age and swimming lessons can provide under-fives with the lifesaving skills they need to know to get themselves out of trouble.”
Learn2Swim Week aims to spread the message that children can begin water familiarisation lessons from as early as four or six months.
Mr Hartzenberg says that by 18 months of age, children who attend regular swimming lessons have skills to get themselves safely back to the side of the pool.
Laurie Lawrence from Kids Alive - Do the Five is the program ambassador and has again partnered with Poolwerx to deliver the initiative.
“Learn2Swim Week has been running for four years now and each year we get more and more swim schools participating,” he said.
“Local swim schools are helping us to reach our goal of zero drownings in under-fives.”
The initiative is supported by industry associations AUST SWIM, ASSA, and SWIM Australia.
