News Items
Swim & Survive Review Delivers Report
State Insurance and Swimming New Zealand paint Waitohu School Pool
One of the most enjoyable parts of the day was visiting the students in their classrooms to discuss water safety and the importance of learning to swim. This was a fantastic opportunity for the students to get to know the State Insurance staff a little bit better, and to thank them for coming in to paint their school pool. Drink bottles, swimming bags and towels were handed out to students as prizes for answering questions about swimming and about State Insurance.
May 2012
State Kiwi Swim Safe in Fox Glacier
April 2012
Bluebridge Ferry Crossings with Koru
As part of our partnership with Bluebridge Ferry, the SNZ education staff did four ferry crossings on the Bluebridge Ferry across the cook stait. We were able to interact with the children on board and spread the water safety messages. The children had lots of water safety and swimming workbooks workbooks which tested their knowlege and provided loads of fun.
Children also receivied free stickers, tattoos and wristbands while on board. The clear highlight for the children was the colouring competition which Koru came to judge at the end of the trip. Well done to all the children who participated. The Bluebridge staff were very welcoming and accommodating and we look forward meeting them again on the next trip.
April 2012
Koru swim's into the Taranaki Region
Koru the State Kiwi Swim Safe mascot has been swimming in and out of New Plymouth schools over the past month attending school assemblies with Cecilie Elliott (Schools Swim Safe Advisor). Koru has attended 30 schools in the past month spreading our watersafety and swimming messages to children.
During his time in Taranaki, Koru was very busy. Koru also spent two days outside the State Insurance office handing out State balloons and State Kiwi Swim Safe stickers. The were lots of children around who all loved meeting Koru the kiwi and getting a sticker. Koru walked to the foreshore to mingle with the public and promote the State Kiwi Swim Safe programme. Heaps of children came up to Koru who had remembered when he came to their school.
Koru was very popular with the Taranaki region and we look foward to having him back soon.
Lake Rotoma School
Lake Rotoma school is a small school of 60 students located on the shore of Lake Rotoma. They have a school pool which is no longer operational so all of their swimming and aquatic education is taught in the lake.
Erin Fowler (LTS Development Manager) went and assisted the students and the school during their Unison Lake Safety programme with Rotorua Swimsation. The students rotated through four different activities through out the day. Swimming, kayaking, lifejackets, improvised floatation aids and offering rigid and non-rigid aid for assistance.
The lake temperature was very chilly. Most of the adults were wearing wetsuits but the students turned up with just their togs. Lake Rotoma students are very tough! Luckily the weather was fantastic and we all warmed up quickly.
This was an amazing opportunity, the kids learnt lots and the teachers really appriciated and learnt alot from Erin's assistance. It was a great day and everyone had loads of fun!
Swimming successes earn giant kiwi hugs
Water Safety in the Wainuiomata Valley
On 6 March, our Wellington based Schools Swim Safe advisor Sarah Gibbison visited Wainuiomata Primary School to discuss Water Safety and how the water environment changes over the Winter period.
Sarah was lucky enough to be joined by Teresa O’ Keefe from the Lower Hutt State Insurance office, who did a fantastic job of reminding the children about the importance of making safe and informed decisions around the water, and enforcing the message that boats and other items can be replaced, but lives can not. The children at the school were very excited to see visitors coming into their school, and were engaged and interested in what was being said and discussed, and were sharing lots of their own experiences about the water with their peers. Lots of well thought out questions were asked including what types of waves do we have in Wellington? Why are only some beaches patrolled by surf lifeguards? How many people drown on our beaches each year?
The children enjoyed going through the Beach Safety poster and were very willing to share their experiences of the local beaches, and waterways that they have both enjoyed in the past, and were planning to visit during the rest of the year. The children made lots of connections with the water safety book Tasman The Sailor Dog, and were easily able to identify and discuss the key water safety messages throughout the book.
The children loved hearing about rip currents, holes and tides, and were especially excited about all of the worksheets and activities they could access from the Surf Life Saving New Zealand website to continue their learning. This learning will also set the foundations for the school, when they attend Surf Life Saving’s Beach Education Day over Summer 2012, completing Module 8 of the State Kiwi Swim Safe programme. The school have also been very proactive in working through Module 1 of the State Kiwi Swim Safe programme, through supporting their students in the classroom, and working through information about being safer in, on and around water, in the school, home and community through active learning and hands on experiments.
The day was a huge success, and we were very lucky to spend time with such a welcoming school. The children have a strong grasp of water safety values, and are keen to give anything a try, which only encourages the staff at the school to be innovative in what they are delivering to their students, and look for other way to challenge the children. The staff at the school are very keen to learn, and we look forward to continuing to work with them in 2012.
Thank you to Sport Wellington, Surf Life Saving and State Insurance for their support of the State Kiwi Swim Safe Programme.
Poukawa School seniors challenge Water Safety session
Poukawa is a small country school nestled halfway between Napier and Central Hawkes Bay. It caters for 90 students from year 0-8. This summer they have struggled to keep their swimming pool open due to the poor weather and pool maintenance , but swimming still remains a priority for this school and the staff have taken full advantage of the State Kiwi Swim Safe programme using classroom and dryland activities to further develop students swimming and water safety skills.
So on Tuesday 27th March Fiona Hurley (Schools Swim Safe Advisor - HB) met the 22 senior students from Poukawa School at Napier Aquatic Centre for a 2 hour water safety and survival session. They used lifejackets and a range of equipment to challenge the kids and test their knowledge.
Using survival strokes, treading water techniques, sculling, and traditional swimming strokes the kids were challenged. A big thank you to the school prinicpal, Heather, Adam and the great team of teachers at the school who see and value the programme and what it can offer to both students and schools.
State Kiwi Swim Safe School of the year
Quality Swim School of the year
Khandallah School Pool Opening
On 29th March, Khandallah School and Easyswim Swim School invited Belinda Galley and Sarah Gibbison to the opening of their new swimming pool building. The school and swim school were thrilled to have a fantastic new building which has replaced the old, deteriorating one.
The Khandallah School pool was built in 1956 and was originally an outdoor pool. The pool was enclosed many years later. A further project in the 1990’s added changing rooms to the pool facility.
In 2002 remedial work was carried out on the steel beams that supported the old pool structure, but contractors advised that this work would only give the pool building and additional life of approximately 10 years. By 2008 with the deterioration to the building very evident, the Board of Trustees commissioned a report into the condition of the pool. In light of this report it was very clear to the board that if the pool building was not replaced the pool would not be used much beyond 2012.
The Khandallah School pool has been used for providing swimming lessons to the children of Khandallah School and the wider community for many years. Since 2006 Easyswim Swim School has been operating in the pool and providing management of the facility. Easyswim Swim School is a current Swimming New Zealand Quality Swim School and is one of the 3 finalists for the Quality Swim School of the year award.
In 2011 Wellington City Council approved a grant to upgrade the school pool building. The school and local community all bound together to raise additional funds for the upgrade as well. Demolition of the old pool building started in late December 2011 with the completion of the new pool building finishing in March 2012.
A big thank you to the Wellington City Council, Khandallah School Home & School Association and the local community.
Left to right: Todd Morton (Easyswim Swim School), Louise Green (Khandallah School Principal), Catherine Cooper (Chairperson, BOT), Sarah Gibbison and Belinda Galley (Swimming New Zealand)
Koru fly's into Blenheim Schools
Pupils safer in the water with swim programme
State Insurance showcase at the A & P show in Wairarapa
Paraparaumu Beach School make a splash!
Koru attends State Ocean Swim events
Parent evening at Bridge Pa School
Bridge Pa School in Maraekakaho, Hastings is a decile 2 school with 54 students. Very few if any children at this school attend swimming lessons yet most of the children spend a lot of time in the water whether it be the beach or river. On Thursday 2nd February Fiona Hurley (Schools Swim Safe Advisor) was fortunate enough to have been invited to attend the parent evening the school held to meet the teachers for the new year. She set up a small stand with loads of information about State Kiwi Swim Safe and also took along some Active Movement in Water information hand outs for the families and whanau. Bridge Pa is a very family orientated school and often students have large families and the message is crucial around water “enjoy it safely”.
The principal and teacher in charge of swimming are very proactive around this subject and it was great to be able to not only chat with the families but also answer the many questions they had in relation to a whole range of topics around water and survival. Not only did Fiona get to speak with each family in a relaxed environment but also took some life jackets along and ran a dry land demo and even had competitions for the kids with the lifejackets. After they did some dry land demonstrating we then headed over to the pool where the kids enjoyed a well-earned fun session in the water where parents could come over to the pool and check out some of the skills the kids had been learning or ask any questions.
To show the strong support the school has for their swimming programme we managed to set up a Water Safety day at Napier Aquatic centre where kids came by bus and through a series of 3 rotations were able to take part in dry land water safety, deep water safety and enjoy a swim/slide. This was to also further encourage families and whanau to get involved each family that turned up to support the session received a free family swim/slide pass.
Matahui Road School Boat Safety Day
Te Kura Maori O Porirua make a splash!
On 31 January our Wellington based Schools Swim Safe advisor visited Te Kura Maori O Porirua, to deliver professional development to the teachers regarding the State Kiwi Swim Safe Programme. The school were extremely welcoming, and were very keen to learn about different ways they could help their tamariki to be safer in, on and around the water.
The school showed a great understanding of what it means to be safe in the water, and had many great ideas about how they felt they could continue to share this message with their students. The school decided that they would like their senior students to have an active role in teaching the younger students to swim, and showed a real passion for making use of the skills, knowledge and experience that these senior students have.
We were very happy and impressed to see that these students attended the professional development workshop along with their teachers, and that they were consistently supported throughout the workshop with their teachers working alongside them, acknowledging what they had to say, and the experiences they wanted to share. The school also have plans to support these students through attaining their ASTA qualification in the future. There was lots of laughter throughout the workshop, especially when the groups were given the task of presenting a game, song, or activity for teaching their students submersion and breath control. We were rewarded with different versions of Ring a rosies, dive ring games and pop songs, all presented in Maori.
The school felt that their classroom learning would be well supported with a pool session, so we all made our way down to the local public pool for the afternoon, much to the delight of the children and parents who were attending swimming lessons there at the time. The teachers and students were very keen to experience the progressions that make up pool modules 2 to 7 of the State Kiwi Swim Safe programme, and very much enjoyed the games and activities that were covered as a part of this. When time was up, they were very quick to ask for another pool session, making comments including “I haven’t been in the pool for ages”, “that was so much fun”, and “no wonder the kids love swimming so much”.
It was a fantastic session, and we all learnt a lot from each other especially in realising how much fun the water can be. We very much look forward to continuing to work with Te Kura Maori O Porirua, as the teachers are able to watch all that they have learnt during the workshop and pool session taking place as their students attend lessons with instructors at Cannons Creek Pool that will be funded through the Kiwi Sport initiative.
Thank you to State Insurance, Sport Wellington and Kiwi Sport for their support of the State Kiwi Swim Safe Programme.
Kereru and Maraekakaho Schools
On Friday 27th January we I ran a combined professional development workshop for Kereru School and Maraekakaho School. The workshop was attended by 10 teachers including the 2 from Kereru School and 8 from Maraekakaho school. It was great to see and feel the passion both these schools have towards not only inspiring their students but giving them the support they need. Swimming is a priority for both these schools and it is clear from the level of ability of the students.
Maraekakaho School has a huge pool complete with a deep end which means the swimmers can practice there deep water swimming and survival skills on a daily basis while ensuring they have plenty of room to spread out.
Kereru School are also very lucky using a partial salt water pool they too can access daily. We were amazed with the standard of swimmers between both of these schools and also the dedication the teachers have to ensure their kids learn necessary life skills when it comes to water. Weather the sun was shining or the rain is falling the kids were keen to show off their skills.
A huge thank you to all the staff at Kereru and Maraekakaho Schools for inviting us to be a part of your schools swimming programme, we look forward to working with you all in the future.
Waikato University student’s gear up for school swimming
Trainee school teachers at Waikato University have received a boost to the start of their teaching course with the addition of swim and survive training through the State Kiwi Swim Safe programme. In mid January, Swimming New Zealand delivered a comprehensive theory and practical training workshop to provide teachers with tools, knowledge and confidence to deliver swim and survive to their students.
Feedback from the trainee teachers who attended the workshop included:
“This was a brilliant opportunity to learn some basic swimming and water safety skills before I go teaching, and to be able to have the practical session was great”
“The State Kiwi Swim Safe programme is fantastic, easy to follow and covers all water safety and swimming aspects. I can’t wait to start delivering it”.
We would like to thank Waikato University teaching staff for their assistance with the course and we look forward to delivering this workshop to the next group of students in March.
