Water Safety Information

At SwimSense, our ultimate goal is for our swimmers to learn to be safe in the water. It is now accepted that learning to swim the different strokes (freestyle, backstroke etc) may not be sufficient for survival in different water environments

Our programme is aligned to Water Safety NZ and Swimming NZ’s ‘Water Skills for Life’ campaign where swimmers work towards 27 core skills with the aim for all children in NZ to be able to achieve these skills by the age of 14.

The beauty of the Water Skills for Life programme is that it develops all of the fundamental skills of learning to swim such as floating, rotation and an awareness of how their body moves in water.
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At SwimSense, as well as working towards their Challenger 1 and Challenger 2 awards, we also have a Survival Swimmer 1 and 2 certification process.

Survival Swimmer One

To receive this award, swimmers must be able to:

Survival Swimmer Two

To receive this award, swimmers must be able to:

 
 Getting in and out of the water safely

  • Stride jump, climbing out without using bar 
  Getting in and out of the water safely

  • Stride jump, back float, move confidently to the side of the pool to exit
Submersion - getting under the water

  • Retrieve a dive stick from bottom of the pool
  • Swimming under water for 5 secs
  • Diving and swimming under water for 5 secs 
 Safety of Self and Others

  • Rescue simulations of all skills learnt so far - final lesson
Personal buoyancy - staying afloat

  • Floating in any body position AIDED
  • Sculling headfirst – hands, horsey, sculling AIDED
  • Treading water for 30 seconds AIDED 
 Personal buoyancy - staying afloat

  • Floating in any body position (vertical, horizontal, curved, rolled) in deep water, 1 minute, UNAIDED
  • Sculling head first –  UNAIDED
  • Sculling feed first - UNAIDED
  • Switch between treading, sculling and floating
  • Treading water for 3 minutes
Orientation in the water

  • Rolling logs AIDED
 Orientation in the water

  • Rolling logs UNAIDED
  • Vertical rotation while treading water
Propulsion – moving through the water

  • 15m non-stop UNAIDED
  • 50m non-stop AIDED *
 Propulsion – moving through the water

  • 5 minutes non-stop
  • AIDED – using a noodle or kickboard (not the Teacher)
  • Certificate awarded on the basis that the above skills are achieved as well as showing competence in the group water safety sessions at the end of Term 3 and 4 (boat and river/lake focus).