The initiative came about after several stories emerged involving children drowning a metre or two from safety. They would not have needed to swim 50 metres to survive; they would only have needed to know how to move as little as five metres through the water to get to safety.
Our squads, made up of full time professional instructors and volunteers who want to share their joy of swimming with children, visit public swimming pools to teach the basics of survival swimming:
During one of our pilot programme sessions, it took just one two-hour lesson, for four instructors to assess and upskill 55 children.
These lessons are offered free of charge and are organised with the kind permission of facilities’ officers and by appointment.
If you are a strong swimmer, you can become a Survival Swimming instructor and teach life-saving skills.
The NSRI has three core Drowning Prevention programmes – Water Safety Education, Pink Rescue Buoys and Survival Swimming – and offers a range of free resources and educational materials.
"The best thing for me is seeing children who were our students successfully practising their floating. The pride that is written on their faces is priceless. And their new skills might one day save their lives."
The Survival Swimming programme at Leliebloem House has given two young girls the chance to change lives - both their own and those of more kids.
The Survival Swimming programme is going from strength to strength. Find out more about a couple of the initiative’s key sponsors, as well as what’s planned for the next few months.
Sea Rescue’s Pop-Up Survival Swimming Lessons returned to the Sea Point Pavilion Municipal Swimming Pool today after an extended winter break
A small group of Sea Rescue volunteer Survival Swimming instructors upskilled the basic swimming ability of 24 children at the Sea Point pavilion on Saturday.
The Quick Service Restaurant chain, Hungry Lion, is committed to protecting and saving lives in their local communities this festive season