The Queensland Government is committed to providing a high quality water safety and swimming education program and developed the:
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. Schools 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.
Core funding (Learn to swim)
The water safety and swimming education funding model has been restructured to ensure that funding best supports schools in delivering a program. Primary and special schools without pools receive core funding annually. In addition, all state schools and special schools with P to 6 cohorts may apply for a water safety and swimming education grant.
Water safety and swimming education grant
The water safety and swimming education grant supports schools who experience challenges when implementing a water safety and swimming education program.
The grant is in addition to core funding (learn to swim).
Applications for the 2025 water safety and swimming education grant open in semester 2, 2025.
Teaching of water safety and swimming accredited training
Expressions of interest for the 2025 school year are now open to state school staff who wish to seek swim teacher accreditation at no cost. To be eligible, registered participants must have a valid school-based email address.
To register your interest, complete this
expression of interest online form.
All courses are subject to minimum enrolment numbers and may be cancelled in the event that there are not enough participants to make the course viable. In locations where minimum numbers are not reached, enrolled participants will be notified directly by the training provider.
Accreditation for the adult supervisor (school teacher and school-based staff) is consistent with the industry standard, swimming and water safety teacher skill set or equivalent including:
- planning swimming lessons
- performing water rescues
- teaching water familiarisation, buoyancy and mobility skills
- teaching water safety and survival skills
- teaching swimming strokes.
For further inquiries, please email
water.safety@qed.qld.gov.au.
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 8 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, curriculum alignment and planning resources. The program is available to all Queensland state and non-state schools and also accessible via
Scootle.
For further information, enquiries can be sent to
water.safety@qed.qld.gov.au.