Royal Life Saving data shows 20% increase in children’s post-pandemic swimming lessons

A new Royal Life Saving Society - Australia special report on learn to swim shows children returning to swimming lessons in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions with an estimated 1.7 million children now participating in classes, a 20% 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.

However, 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.

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

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 Queensland.

The 2022 National Drowning Report reported a 36% increase in drowning among school aged children (aged five to 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.

Royal Life Saving urges parents and carers to 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 50 metresm?

• 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

Royal Life Saving is also urging governments to adopt a renewed focus on swimming lessons for children aged seven to 12 years.

It also feels that it is essential that older children develop vital swimming and water safety skills heading into teenage years and adulthood, noting that 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 with a national action plan to address the matter of children having missed out of learning to swim.

The body feels that such an approach should at least include strategies to:

• Strengthen existing school and vacation programs

• Increase participation, especially of those most at-risk through targeted programs

• Promote and track national swimming and water safety benchmarks

• Increase lifesaving and water safety skills in teenagers

• Address infrastructure gaps, build and/or upgrade aquatic centres and swim schools

Methods
The survey involved 59 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 (1st December 2022 to 28th February 2023).

The website - https://www.royallifesaving.com.au/research-and-policy/drowning-research/summer-drowning-toll - includes an analysis of fatal drowning, including a comparison of ‘this time’ last summer, as well as location and activity information.