Sadly, drowning remains one of the most common causes of accidental death in children aged between 5-14 years and young people with SEND are at higher risk than the general population. Water safety training is designed to increase awareness of the dangers of water and aims to prevent more tragic incidents in the future from occurring.

Swim England School Swimming & Water Safety Training

Additional Resources:

• The Oscar the Otter Water Safety Education Film and accompanying lesson plans have been co-designed with the Lead Inclusion Schools and their pupils, to help children to stay safe in water.
• Swim England have also produced an Online Assessment Tool to allow swimming lesson providers and schools the opportunity to identify the strengths of their school swimming programme and to recognise any areas of potential development.

Impact to date

Over the last year, we’ve seen some great stories of schools who have used resources and tools created through Inclusion 2024 to raise the profile of water safety in their schools and local communities.

• Poltair School in Cornwall have embedded inclusive swim safe festivals across the county to support schools in providing structured water safety education. These festivals include understanding the water safety codes, the dangers of living near to the coast and other types of water and knowing how to respond in an emergency.
• Parkside School in Norwich has also been actively involved in promoting the importance of water safety with all pupils, including those with SEND. Over the last academic year, the school has educated over 25 schools and three swim school providers using the SwimPix resources. They’ve also delivered water safety assemblies in school and at local PE conferences and celebrated the success of the training through a Panathlon swim event, engaging local primary pupils with SEND. These activities not only increased pupils’ engagement and enjoyment in and around the poolside, but also improved the staff’s confidence in delivering water safety activities through the training opportunities provided.

The Inclusion 2024 consortium consists of Activity Alliance, the British Paralympic Association, NASEN (National Association for Special Educational Needs), Youth Sport Trust and Swim England. Young people and parents also sit on the group.