Drowning Prevention Week 2023 – learning a life skill

Jun 01, 2023 | Blog
17th to 24th June marks Drowning Prevention Week which aims to raise awareness of water safety ahead of summer, where the risk to the public through accidental drowning increases significantly. In the article below we examine the importance of learning to swim and how swimming lessons can help save lives.

Why learn to swim? 

We currently teach close to 40,000 children a week nationally in our More Swimming Academy, with the demand for lessons increasing in the lead up to the summer holdiays. We have a huge responsibility to ensure these children get all the skills they need to be safe in and around water.  

Being able to swim is an important skill that could one day save your life or the life of someone you are with. According to the World Health Organization, about 10 people die from unintentional drowning every day. It's the 6th leading cause of unintentional death for people of all ages, and the 2nd cause of death for children under 14.

Swimming lessons are an important life skill 

We always teach water safety in our swimming lessons, but in June there is a greater focus on this. Around 44% of accidental drownings happen between May and September. 

This month our lessons will consist of additional teaching practises relating to drowning prevention. We will make sure that children understand those rules relating to swimming such as never swimming alone and not using inflatables in the sea (save that inflatable unicorn for a pool!). 

Our swimming teachers are highly trained and will teach physical skills such as treading water and how to float if you get into difficulty in the water.  

We don’t just stop there though – we make sure these skills are practiced time and time again, so children become confident about what to do in an emergency. We also hope that children will go home after their swimming lessons and talk about the skills they have learnt with their family. 

We are here to help 

Many adults in the UK won’t have received any drowning prevention education and so our role is so much bigger than just teaching the children. More than 55% of parents in a recent RLSS UK survey said they would not be confident their child would know what to do if they fell into open water.  

We all have a part to play in delivering drowning prevention education. Our ultimate goal is for there to be no further drownings. Whilst progress has been made in recent years, on average 312 UK and Irish citizens drown each year. This is still a horrifying number.  

At the More Swimming Academy we will continue to work hard in our goal to educate as many people as possible in drowning prevention.

Our swimming lessons 

We pride ourselves on delivering high quality swimming lessons in a relaxed, fun environment, with fully-qualified instructors to help you every splash of the way, whether you’re looking to learn a life skill or become more confident in the water. 

Find out more about our Swimming Lessons pathway today.