Swimming Instruction and Water Safety Education

Guidance

Swimming and water-based activities guidelines

The Swimming and water-based activities guidelines (DOCX) apply to instructional swimming programs, lifesaving programs and recreational activities. These guidelines must be followed when the main activity is swimming.

For other water-based activities, refer to the activity specific guidelines in the Excursions policy.

To help build schools’ swimming and water safety programs, the department has collaborated with Life Saving Victoria (LSV) to develop a School Swimming and Water Safety Toolkit, which provides a full suite of information on:

• water safety messages and statistics
• Victorian Curriculum as it relates to swimming and water safety
• funding
• program options
• the Victorian Water Safety Certificate
• resources
• professional development.

Child safety and risk registers

Schools must assess risk for all excursions (including local excursions) and identify measures to reduce reasonably foreseeable risk to students wherever possible.

For swimming and water-based activities, schools may choose to include the risks for these activities in their Excursions risk register and emergency management plan (DOCX) or use the Swimming and water-based activities risk register (DOCX). Note: the following water-based activities have their own activity specific risk registers which can be used: canoeing and kayaking, rafting, sailing, scuba-diving, sea kayaking, snorkelling, surfing and stand-up paddle boarding, water-skiing and windsurfing.

Child safety risks for the excursion can be captured in the Child safety risk register (DOCX) or included in the Excursions risk register and emergency management plan or Swimming and water-based activities risk register.

For more information, refer to Excursions: Risk management planning, Swimming and water-based activities guidelines (DOCX) and Develop your school's child safety risk register.

Advice for supervising students in changerooms

Schools must consider and mitigate child safety risks when supervising student use of changerooms. For some students, this may be the first time they have been in a pool or leisure centre.

Planning

Before swimming lessons start, the school is recommended to meet with or telephone pool management to discuss the set-up of the pool and change rooms. Schools are recommended to ask:

• Does the pool have multiple change rooms? If so, can one set of changerooms be used for school swimming lessons?
• Is there a corner or section of the changerooms that can be cordoned off by pool management for students to use during the lessons?
• Is there more than one entry and exit into the change room?
• Can the students be moved in and out of one door only (if there are multiple doors available)?

On the day

Schools are recommended to inform parent volunteers about how management of students in the change rooms will be conducted before they arrive at the pool to assist with student safety.

When at the pool, teachers and parent volunteers are recommended to:

• use designated change rooms or change room area that have been reserved specifically for the school
• ensure that students use one exit and entry to change rooms where possible to ensure that student movement is tracked
• designate a seating area that all students can use to place their bags and gather once changed into their bathers.