Wellington City Council Joins Swim For Life

This week Wellington City Council added its support to the Swim For Life initiative, in an effort to encourage more Wellington children to learn and develop swim and survival skills.

The purpose of Swim For Life is that every New Zealand child by the age of twelve should be able to swim 200 metres confidently and competently with associated survival skills and water safety knowledge.

Swim For Life is a marketing initiative managed by Water Safety New Zealand in partnership with the Swim Coaches and Teachers Association of New Zealand and the New Zealand Recreation Association.

The initiative was developed in an effort to curb the high drowning rate in this country (twice the rate per capita than Australia) and the lack of swimming and survival skills of children at primary school. An essential component of Swim For Life is the facilitation of a support network for primary schools to encourage and motivate schools to consider learning to swim and survive an fundamental skill for their students.

WSNZ Operations Manager Matt Claridge remarks that “Wellington City Councils signing is another huge step for the initiative taking the total number of facilities involved to 187 across New Zealand. The involvement of another large territorial authority working within the initiative is vital to giving all New Zealanders the core life skill of learning to swim and survive in New Zealand”.

Wellington City Council’s Pools Manager Julian Todd says that the Wellington City Council has offered a quality learn to swim and survive programme to the Wellington region for a long time. “Swim for Life complements this delivery to both schools and the community. Swim For Life is an important initiative to ensure that all children have the accessibility to gain life skills, well being, healthy lifestyles and enjoyment of life”.

ENDS

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