This programme enables thousands of children in the Taupo district to attend swim classes each year. It aims to encourage New Zealanders to recognise swimming and personal survival skills.
To begin with, our qualified swimming instructors assessed what we could do in the water already. We learnt these skills through a variety of fun water games and activities.
The students learning involved:
I learnt to do a starfish on my tummy and my back. I liked doing rockets with our hands behind our ears. I didn’t like going under the water without holding my nose. (Lyla)
It was fun doing freestyle arms because I could do the breathing. I found backstroke arms a little hard. My friends Baylee and Danielle were in my group (Bianca)
I learnt to dive under the water to pick up rings. I found keeping my head down when I was doing the rocket hard. (Lilly)
On our last day at the AC Baths, we participated in a water safety day where we learnt all about life jackets. Our instructors taught us what to do if we found ourselves floating in the deep water like using our whistles, how to call for help, staying together and keeping warm. We feel so much more prepared now if we were to find ourselves in that situation.
I liked taking photos of my friend putting on the lifejackets and swimming in a train to keep warm. (Zayn)
It was cool that I could float. I was scared to let myself fall back into the pool. I went under the water. (Baylee).
I liked going around the circles in the train. The water splashed in my face like waves. (Eli)
We had so much fun at the AC Baths and look forward to our lessons next year. Thanks to Contact for allowing us to learn to swim and be safe around the water.
Attributes
Keywords: Swimming, water safety, floating, sculling, freestyle, backstroke, kicking, submerging, bubbles
