Learn to Swim team deliver water safety sessions for 2,000 children

This week, Glasgow Life Sport’s Learn to Swim programme partnered with the Royal Lifesaving Society and Scottish Swimming to deliver water safety sessions as part of swimming lessons during National Drowning Prevention Week 2024.

More than 2,000 children aged three to 15 attended this week’s sessions and learned vital skills about water safety and what to do if they find themselves in difficulties in the water.

Drowning Prevention Week is deliberately timed ahead of the school summer holidays when children spend more time outdoors and when vital water safety skills can help keep children safe.

The key message of the campaign is to always follow the Water Safety Code:

1) Stop and think – look for any dangers before you enter the water

2) Stay together – never swim alone; tell family and friends where you are going

3) Float – if you fall in, stay calm, float on your back and call for help

4) Call 999 – never go into the water to rescue anyone or anything, call 999 and ask for the coast guard

In support of the above, our venue colleagues also delivered ‘Save a Baby’s Life’ and ‘Save a Child’s Life’ workshops in various venues across Glasgow. The drop-in workshops offered parents and guardians the basic skills needed to deliver emergency first aid to babies and children, including basic life support (CPR) and choking and drowning treatment.

For more water safety information, please visit www.rlss.org.uk.

The Learn to Swim Team would like to thank all the children, teachers and venue staff who made the 2024 campaign so successful.