Audit of Queensland State Schools shows 99% deliver swimming lessons

A swimming audit of Queensland State Schools has shown 98.7% of schools are offering water safety and swimming education in 2023, including water swimming lessons that are aligned to the National Swimming and Water Safety Framework.

Of the 1,072 schools surveyed, only 14 state primary schools and special schools were not providing a program.

One of the reasons raised was access to qualified instructors, so the Palaszczuk Government will provide funding to support up to 50 HPE teachers to undertake accredited water safety and swimming instructor training each year.

Other schools were in very remote locations, and intensive support will be provided to those schools to ensure a swimming program can be delivered in future.

The audit highlighted successful partnerships that other rural schools can model, such as the one between Drillham and Dulcacca State Schools.

During the audit the department also spoke to schools about contributions from parents and carers. Around half of families were making some sort of contribution, usually between $20 and $40 a year. This goes towards things like transport costs and pool admission fees.

All schools without a swimming pool already automatically receive a share of the $3.5 million Learn to Swim funding. Separately, a Water Safety and Swimming Education Grant is available to schools facing additional barriers and that are unable to cover costs from their existing budget. In 2022 a total of $150,000 was available. In 2023, this will be more than quadrupled to $650,000 to help reduce costs for schools and families.

This will take the annual funding for schools without a pool to $4.2 million and is in addition to the money invested for teaching time, staff development, infrastructure investment, and pool maintenance for schools that have pools.

The audit report is available here 

The Queensland Government introduced a statewide Water Safety and Swimming Education Program and made offering swimming lessons compulsory in state primary schools following the Ministerial Water Safety Roundtable established in 2018. The Water Safety Action statement from 2018 can be found here