Our students and parents greatly enjoy our beach sessions, which strengthen not only children’s water safety skills, but also their connection with the natural environment.
Our water safety program ran again in Term 1 of this year, building on the huge success of last year’s pilot program. Researchers from the University of Otago emphasise the importance of teaching water safety skills in open water, as we can’t assume that skills learnt in a swimming pool will generalise to natural settings. Our students and parents greatly enjoy our beach sessions, which strengthen not only children’s water safety skills, but also their connection with the natural environment, which in turn promotes health and wellbeing and the importance of our roles as kaitiaki of our local environment.
During the beach sessions, the teachers and parent helpers were really impressed with the kids’ eagerness and positive attitudes. They saw many children pushing themselves out of their comfort zones and giving everything a go.It was wonderful to see how the children’s confidence, awareness and skill developed over the course of the program. We can’t wait to get back out there in Term 4!
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