Brophy Family and Youth Services
Education
A collaborative response to youth disengagement in regional Victoria
ProjectBefore school swimming and water safety program trial
Amount$30,000
Date2014
ProgramOther Past Programs
TRUST OBJECTIVES | PROJECT OBJECTIVES |
---|---|
This grant was approved under our previous grants policy (Jan 2014 – March 2017) | |
Rural and regional Victoria | Deliver water safety skills and knowledge to students, reducing childhood drownings and aquatic injury. |
Building capacity | Provide the Deptartment of Education and Training (DET) with a program model and delivery framework for Victorian schools. |
Extending opportunity | Every Victorian child has the right to learn aquatic skills that could one day save their life or the lives of others. |
Collaboration and partnership | Greater Shepparton City Council, Aquamoves recreational facility, local primary schools and DET. |
This project meets the HMSTrust focus areas of cross-sector and cross-community collaboration and long term social cohesion.
Research indicates that one in three children leave primary school without suitable swimming skills, and two in five lack sufficient water safety knowledge. Life Saving Victoria, the State’s peak water safety body, won HMSTrust funding so it could pilot a school ‘survival swimming’ program, develop a program model and recommend a delivery framework. Its ultimate goal is to introduce new water safety programs into the Victorian school curriculum via the Department of Education & Training (DET).
Between 2006 and 2011 there was a 68 per cent increase in the five year average drowning rate in children aged five to 14 years, and a recent study by Life Saving Victoria (LSV) revealed that only 40 per cent of Year 6 students met accepted swimming standards.
Life Saving Victoria aims to shift the focus of existing programs from ‘learn to swim’ to ‘survival swimming’ that prepares children for unexpected entry into water. The program’s goal is to reduce the childhood drowning rate by teaching children to swim safely and confidently.
The successful pilot program in Shepparton with two primary schools incorporated self-awareness, good decision-making and leadership under DET’s Resilience Framework, and supported themes of the draft Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education.
Snapshot
“LSV strongly believes every child has the right to access swimming and water safety education. The school setting is the ideal environment for this.” Kate Simpson, LSV’s General Manager Education Services.
Education
A collaborative response to youth disengagement in regional Victoria
Community
Supporting the long term recovery of bushfire affected communities in Rural and Regional Victoria
Past Programs | Arts and Culture
Enabling artists to rebuild after natural disaster
Past Programs | Environment
Protecting endangered species and habitats across South Gippsland
Past Programs | Health
Building organisational capacity to enable sustainable growth
Our grants matrix is a graphical representation of our matched objectives. Each column of circles represents one of the funding criteria, and the colour coded central row represents the program that funding was received in.
Use the interactive example below to see whether your project ticks at least 3 of the 5 objectives.