Royal Life Saving helps new migrants with learn to swim and water safety program

Royal Life Saving’s Move It AUS program has delivered a one-week swimming and water safety program in Hobart to 26 newly arrived students from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds to help develop their practical skills and knowledge on how to stay safe in, on and around water.

This program provides an opportunity for participants to gain a greater understanding of the importance of being active, while encouraging them to embrace swimming. The program supports at-risk groups, including Indigenous families, CALD communities, and children from remote or low-income households.

The students study at Cosgrove and Newtown High Schools in Hobart, are aged between 12 to 16 years, and have been in Australia from two months to two years, having moved for humanitarian reasons. Originally from various countries in Africa and Asia, including Ethiopia, Sudan, Nepal, Iran and Afghanistan, many of them had never had the opportunity to learn how to swim or received any water safety education before arriving in Tasmania.

Royal Life Saving Tasmania Project and Programs Manager, Karina Siggins advised “Aquatic recreation is part of the very fabric of Australian life. As new arrivals, many of the students taking part have not had the opportunities we take for granted and are dipping their toes into water for the very first time. With the help of staff at Collegiate Pool in Hobart, this program gives them the chance to learn key life skills and water safety knowledge to help prepare them for their new lives in Australia.”

Move It AUS is Sport Australia’s national awareness campaign that encourages every Australian to get physically active for at least 30 minutes (for adults) or 60 minutes (for children) each day. Move It AUS Participation Grants provide support to get Australians moving, and improve their physical and mental health.

Royal Life Saving Society – Australia received a $240,000 Move It AUS Participation Grant from Sport Australia to deliver learn to swim and water safety awareness programs for a number of communities around Australia. This funding will facilitate lessons for over 1000 people in more than 19 different locations around Australia. As well as swimming skills and water safety awareness training, the funding will help to remove barriers to participation, such as transport to and from often very remote locations and the cost of lessons, pool entry and equipment such as goggles and caps.

The program is taking place at the Collegiate Pool in Hobart from 24th February to 28th February 2020.

For more information about Royal Life Saving and its Move It AUS programs, click here.