The Queensland Government is committed to providing a high quality water safety and swimming education program and developed the:
Water safety and swimming audit
On 7 February 2023, the Department of Education sent a data collection survey to state school principals with a Prep to Year 6 cohort, special schools and schools of distance education to gain an understanding of how water safety and swimming was delivered across Queensland.
View a copy of the
Water safety and swimming education programs in Queensland state schools audit report.
School requirements
In line with the department’s
P–12 Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Framework, Queensland state schools are required to provide a water safety and swimming education program in Prep to Year 6. They are encouraged to implement the program as part of the delivery of the Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education.
Individual state schools determine how they provide their water safety and swimming education program in line with the
statement of expectations: water safety and learn to swim programs. This statement provides additional information about targeted programs, training, qualifications and competencies.
Schools must complete a
Curriculum Activity Risk Assessment (CARA) that complies with the requirements outlined in the specific water location
guidelines. Additional risks, hazards and control measures supplied by an external provider must be included with this risk assessment.
Funding
The Queensland Government has committed to providing additional funding of more than $4 million annually to extend the benefits of swimming and water safety education programs across Queensland.
Funding has been increased for state primary and special schools without a pool to support water safety and swimming education programs. The
learn to swim funding is calculated annually and paid to schools automatically.
Further to the learn to swim funding, the
water safety and swimming education grant has been increased by $500,000 to $650,000 per year from 2023–24. The grant is available to state primary and special schools without pools with unique circumstances that present a barrier to implementation and are not able to fund the program from the school budget.
From 2023–24, an additional $50,000 a year has been committed to fund water safety and swimming accreditation training for up to 50 teachers every year.
Applications for the 2024 grants will open in Semester 2, 2023. Details on eligibility and how to apply will be available in Term 2, 2023.
Water Safety and Swimming Education program
To support schools to implement water safety and learn to swim programs, the Department of Education has developed the water safety and swimming education program. All resources are based on current water safety and learn to swim best practice and are aligned to the:
- national swimming and water safety framework
- Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education (HPE) achievement standards and content descriptions.
The program provides eight lessons for each band of years (Prep, Years 1 and 2, Years 3 and 4, Years 5 and 6, Years 7 and 8, and Years 9 and 10). Supporting materials for implementing the program include guidelines, sequence of competency, competency checklists, glossary and curriculum alignment resources. The program is available to all Queensland state and non-state schools and can also accessible via
Scootle.
For further information, enquiries can be sent to
water.safety@qed.qld.gov.au.