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Can’t Swim? You’re not alone

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7 November 2014

By Bronwen

Who else can remember those cheerful afternoons going swimming with your class? Does anyone else thinks fondly of their days in primary school learning to swim? 4 in 10 of you won’t be able to relate to this, as they were never offered the opportunity to learn to swim in primary school. Schools are supposed to offer 25 hours a year to every child to teach them how to swim however only 45% of them manage to do this.

With 1 in 5 drowning incidents involving children under the age of 11, it seems almost ludicrous that parents and schools aren’t taking this more seriously. Only 55% of children can swim one length of a pool unaided- that’s a tiny 25 metres that should really be quite easy.

More than half of parents don’t believe that swimming is an essential life skill yet 6 in 10 parents worry about their kids drowning. The obvious solution? Teach your kids to swim!

20% of parents believe it’s the school’s problem to teach their children to swim, but if your child’s school doesn’t offer such lessons, it is really only sensible to take this task upon yourself.

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