Water Safety New ZealandA Te Reo version of the successful water safety programme SplashSave – the brainchild of Wellington brothers Phil and Richard Waggot - was recently launched to Kohānga Reo kaiako and whānau recently.
SplashSave’s ‘Swim to Survive’ programme enables whānau to become their child’s first teacher on their journey to introduce water safety to their tamariki.
Phil, a swim teacher for the past 20 years, and Richard, who designs educational materials, created the SplashSave 'Swim to Survive' programme back in 2011. It was first published in English before the Te Reo resource was created. It will be trialled with 250 tamariki from around New Zealand after the launch.
SplashSave’s ‘Swim to Survive’ gives whānau the skills they need to teach their child the basics in aquatic education. It focuses on a child from birth to five years’ old and it teaches them water survival techniques - a pre-curser to traditional swimming lessons – in an easy to read fun way.
Comprising of five units, Swim to Survive is filled with fun games that are played with children in the pool and it builds on skills from baby’s first bath and to preschool swim skills. It also talks about how to be safe beaches, rivers and on boats. It contains five waterproof lessons plans and certificates to mark achievements along the way.
Water Safety New Zealand’s Kaihautū, Rob Hewitt, says the programme is a great opportunity to give whānau the skills and knowledge they need to educate tamariki about staying safe in the water.
“It’s also about reconnecting Māori with wai with which Māori have a deep spiritual connection to,” says Rob.
Find out more about SplashSave here…
https://splashsave.org/products/swim-to-survive-parents-pack
Read about how Swim to Survive was created here…
https://under5.org.nz/SplashSave-Swim-to-Survive-programme
