Published 15 January 2023

A new Royal Life Saving Society Australia Special Report on Learn to Swim post pandemic shows encouraging trends on children returning to swimming lessons since the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions lifted with an estimated 1.7 million kids in lessons, a 20 per cent increase on pre-pandemic enrolments.

While an additional 300,000 children are in lessons compared to pre-pandemic levels, the growth is most evident the younger preschool age groups.

Unfortunately, this growth is not high enough to offset missed lessons in seven-to 12-year-old children meaning at least 100,000 children in late primary school years are unlikely to return to lessons before high school.

A snapshot of swim school enrolments from across the country found that many swim schools are now delivering more lessons and catering for more children than they did prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Swim schools are being resilient and flexible in meeting demand.

Royal Life Saving Chief Executive Officer Justin Scarr said the lack of water safety lessons for those older children heightened the drowning risk this summer, and in the years to come.

“The importance of school aged children returning swimming and water safety programs cannot be overstated. It is critical that we have a medium-term national plan to get seven- and 12-year-old children, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds back into lessons,” said Mr Scarr.

Significant growth in enrolments of children aged under four may reflect the availability of swimming vouchers for preschool children, particularly in NSW or parental interest in QLD.

The 2022 National Drowning Report reported a 36 per cent increase in drowning among school aged children (aged five - 14 years) compared to the 10-year average. The last two years have recorded the highest number of school-aged drowning deaths in a decade (since 2011/12). All age groups, except for children under five years, reported an increase in drowning deaths.

Parents and carers should check:

Can your child swim 50 metres and float for two minutes without help?

For children aged seven to 12 years who may have missed lessons or dropped out and can’t meet these national benchmarks:

• Get kids back into lessons - enrol at your local swim school or in a vacation program over the summer school holidays
• Head down to your local aquatic facility to refresh swimming and water safety skills before heading out into other environments this summer – can your child swim 50m?
• Check to see if you can access sports and learn to swim vouchers that can be used to cover some of the costs of swimming lessons

For governments: a renewed focus on children aged seven – 12 years is needed.

It is essential that older children develop vital swimming and water safety skills heading into teenage years and adulthood. These are the children that are most likely to have stopped lessons or missed school programs targeted to primary school children.

Royal Life Saving believes this is a complex problem, that needs a multidimensional approach.

A national action plan to address kids who miss out of learning to swimming to swim should at least include strategies to:

1. Strengthen existing school and vacation programs
2. Increase participation, especially of those most at-risk through targeted programs
3. Promote and track national swimming and water safety benchmarks
4. Increase lifesaving and water safety skills in teenagers
5. Address infrastructure gaps, build and/or upgrade aquatic centres and swim schools

Methods

The survey involved fifty-nine swim schools from across the country (excluding Northern Territory and Western Australia) who provided enrolment data for September 2022. This data was matched to the enrolment numbers for September 2019 (pre-COVID-19 pandemic) from those same swim schools. More detailed methods are in the report.

Royal Life Saving acknowledges Belgravia Leisure, The Y, Royal Life Saving member organisations, various councils and swim schools who supported the project.

Royal Life Saving Summer Drowning Toll

Royal Life Saving’s Summer Drowning Toll is updated regularly over the summer (1 Dec 2022 to 28 Feb 2023). The website includes an analysis of fatal drowning, including a comparison of ‘this time’ last summer, as well as location and activity information. The website can be found at https://www.royallifesaving.com.au/research-and-policy/drowning-research/summer-drowning-toll

Royal Life Saving Society – Australia’s research, education and advocacy work in drowning prevention and water safety is supported by the Australian Government.

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