The Royal Life Saving Society UK (RLSS UK) has developed the Water Smart Schools Accreditation, which launched in time for the new academic year, to facilitate classroom-based Water Safety Education.
And the mothers of Joe Abbess and Sunnah Khan who tragically lost their lives at Bournemouth beach in May this year, have recently advocated for the programme.
The RLSS UK initiative has been designed especially for schools to help their students develop water safety skills for life in the classroom environment, in recognition of the fact that not all schools can access pool-based safety education.
A cross-section of schools have piloted and successfully completed this new initiative, and now over 100 schools have signed up to the programme to ensure their students are educated on water safety.
Joe, 17, and Sunnah, 12, tragically drowned on 31 May this year when a suspected rip current caused sea conditions to change.
Joe’s mum, Vanessa Abbess, said, “I am keen to support the RLSS UK Water Smart School initiative to educate and raise awareness to improve water safety, in memory of our son Joe.
“Joe and Sunnah lost their lives despite being only waist high in the water, on a lifeguarded beach.
“Joe was sensible, healthy, and strong but taken from us, due to the ferocity of the sea that day. I am certain that if Joe had survived, he would definitely want to warn others of the dangers, as he was a very caring young man.
“I feel education is the key to get water safety to be broadly discussed and thus potentially save lives.”
Drowning is one of the leading causes of child trauma-related deaths in the UK (National Child Mortality Database, Deaths of children and young people due to traumatic incidents thematic report, July 2023) and is largely avoidable through education and positive experiences around water.
Sadly, access to swimming tuition and water safety education differs across the UK and there is often disparity for those from low-income and ethnically diverse family groups. The most recent data shared through the 2022 Active Lives Survey shows that only 34.7% of children from low-affluence families are able swim 25 metres unaided, compared with 76.4% children from high-income families.
RLSS UK’s Water Smart Schools accreditation aims to improve this by providing schools with a framework and all necessary resources to facilitate this vital learning.
Sunah’s mother, Stephanie Williams, said “”I think educating our children on water safety is incredibly important. The very least we can do is give all children an equal opportunity to access information that could potentially save their life one day. You never think it will happen to you until it happens to you.
“Knowledge is power, let’s give our children the knowledge and start the conversation that may one day save their life. Sunnah had her whole life ahead of her and it was so brutally torn away from her that day, I want to do everything I can to prevent this from happening to other children.”
RLSS UK launched the free Water Smart Schools programme in line with the start of Autumn term and all educational settings are being encouraged to sign up and take part during the 2023-24 school year.
Flexibility is at the heart of the programme and the charity is proud that Water Smart Schools can be applied to any learning environment including further education and SEND settings. The charity has already seen lots of enthusiasm from a number of schools and they want to ensure all school children have the vital water safety knowledge needed to stay safe in and around water.
RLSS UK’s Education Manager Andy Lane said, “We are excited to already have over 100 schools on board but want to grow this and get even more schools on board to ensure more children have the much-needed knowledge around water safety.”
If you are interested in taking part to become a Water Smart School, please email education@rlss.org.uk.