Portable pool brings swimming lessons to Hicks Bay

Hundreds of children and their families in Hicks Bay on the East Coast of New Zealand's North Island will no longer go without swimming lessons or need to travel to swim thanks to the recent arrival of the ActivePost portable pool.

The portable pool has been provided by New Zealand Post's ActivePost initiative as part of the Kia Maanu, Kia Ora (Stay Afloat, Stay Alive) campaign to reduce the high number of Maori drownings by teaching young rural-based Maori water survival skills.

The ActivePost pool was assembled with the help of volunteers at Te Kura Kaupapa Maori (TKKM) o Kawakawa mai Tawhiti and will be used by around 250 children over the term from that school and three others, Te Waha O Rerekohu Area School, Potaka School and Tikitiki School.

While the lessons will help them make the most of their natural seaside environment, the children will also train to become local lifeguards and participate in waka ama. Outside school hours, the pool will become a community resource for fitness and Iron Maori triathlon training with members of the public invited to use it.

Water Safety New Zealand Chief Executive Matt Claridge.

Welcoming the erection of the pool, Water Safety New Zealand (WSNZ) Chief Executive Matt Claridge stated "this will make an incredible difference to the lives of these kids and save money for the schools involved.

"To travel by bus to the nearest pool in Gisborne was going to cost up to $1000 per day, which is a cost no school can afford.

"The ActivePost portable pool means these kids won't miss out on vital swim and survive lessons."

Claridge also expressed WSNZ's wider concern that "Maori consistently rate as one of New Zealand's most 'at-risk' groups in terms of drowning fatalities.

"The portability of the ActivePost pool provides a solution to one of the main issues affecting the water safety skills of rural Maori a lack of access to suitable, cost effective facilities that are appropriate for water safety education.

"Already we've been told stories about kids using the skills they've learnt in the pool in lifesaving situations out on the water. We're sure the families of Hicks Bay will equally benefit from this opportunity."

Last term the pool was based in Welcome Bay where almost 200 students from years 1-13 made massive improvements across all swim and survive areas, from flotation to swimming 200 metres, and putting them at levels well above the national average by the end of the term. In the first school term, it was in Cambridge's Ngati Haua Kura Kaupapa.

Measuring roughly 10 x 5 metres and holding 50,000 litres of water when in use, the pool caters for up to 15 students at a time.

Detachable marquees allow it to be used rain or shine and it can be heated to 28 degrees Celsius, providing an ideal environment for teaching.

ActivePost spokesperson Nicola Airey says she is excited to see the pool move into the Gisborne region, adding "getting the ActivePost pool into Hicks Bay was important to us because it gives everyone there a better chance to learn swimming skills.

"The ActivePost philosophy is to help people get into sport, and this pool is having a real impact."

http://watersafety.org.nz/