The City of New Westminster, B.C., was the recipient of a Swim to Survive school grant from the Lifesaving Society, which allowed Grade 3 students from a local school to participate in the program last month.
According to the New Westminster Record, students from Lord Kelvin Elementary School were the first to partake in the free water survival skills program, which took place at the Moody Park outdoor pool. Along with swimming, students were taught water safety skills for an unexpected fall into deep water, along with self-rescues and the importance of life jackets, and swimming with a buddy.
“There were five groups of nine students. Four out of the five were all novice swimmers,” Lisa Coleman, instructional supervisor at Canada Games Pool, said in the report. “They were level one and two, while another group was considered to be more advanced—maybe level four and up.
“It was a little surprising for us to see the number of students who we have never seen before and can’t really swim.”
In addition to a grant from the Lifesaving Society, the Canadian Tire Jumpstart provided additional funds for the program.
“We are really excited about this. It is definitely a first for us, but there are legs to this,” added Coleman. “The grants program is hopefully going to continue each year so we will continue to apply for that.”
