It is a sad fact that many young children suffer fatal drowning accidents. According to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, toddlers aged two to three are the group to be considered most at risk of drowning.
Unfortunately, it only takes a moment's lack of attention by an adult for a child to drown. For this reason alone, it is vitally important that nursery staff teach young children about basic water safety, and encourage parents to take their children to a local swimming class.
Teaching young children to swim is a skill that could one day save their own life, or avoid them getting into difficulty in the first place. Besides being an invaluable life skill, swimming is good fun and great exercise, helping to develop muscle tone and co-ordination skills.
If you are thinking about incorporating swimming into your curriculum you need to take into account the high adult:child ratio required, transport costs, the time it takes to get the children ready before and after swimming, and supervision for the children while the adults get dressed too.
It could be worth contacting a local college or school to see if any students wishing to take up childcare would like some voluntary experience to help make up the high ratio. You will need to inform your insurance company and have the students checked with the Criminal Records Bureau.
Because of the difficulties in arranging transport, and the high staff:child ratio required for swimming in public pools (usually 1:1 for children aged under four, 1:2 for ages four to seven), there are very few nurseries that offer swimming as part of the curriculum.
Some nurseries, however, arrange swimming at a local pool if parents are able to help. One nursery felt unable to offer sessions itself but put families in touch with a swimming teacher who ran special lessons for groups of nursery children attending with a parent or carer.
Hatton Hill Day Nursery in Surrey is in the fortunate position of having its own small swimming pool and employs an Amateur Swimming Association-qualified teacher to work with the children for 12 hours a week. Even the youngest baby has the opportunity for a weekly 20-minute swimming lesson on a one-to-one basis with the swimming teacher. The ratio is increased slightly for older children so that she is working with two children aged two to three, and three children aged three to five. She works with an assistant who helps with collecting children from their nursery group, getting the children ready for their lesson and helping them get dried and dressed afterwards.
Ideal ways of introducing water safety to nursery-aged children could be through topics on water, summertime, holidays or the seaside. It is essential to obtain the right balance so children are made aware that water can be great fun, but also to understand that water can be dangerous and that they always need to be with an adult.
During the summer, getting the paddling pool out is an ideal way to have fun in water as well as teaching the children some techniques that will prepare them for swimming.
With small groups of children in a paddling pool, nursery staff can encourage children to gain confidence in water with suitable toys, games, stories and songs. Action songs can be used with a purpose. For example, 'If you're happy and you know it' could be adapted to include 'splash your feet/hands/wash your hair/blow bubbles'. Another good song is 'It's raining, it's pouring', encouraging children to run water over their heads and allowing it to drip on to their faces.
Other activities may include getting children to dip their noses in the water, and eventually their whole faces. Very sensitive children could develop a fear of water due to the antics of some more boisterous children in the paddling pool. It might be a good idea to have a separate session for nervous children, so they can build their confidence gradually.
The most important aspect of helping children to gain confidence in the water is by making it as much fun as possible.
FURTHER INFORMATION
- www.uk-swimmingdirectory.co.uk
- www.swimschooluk.com
- www.rospa.com
- www.waterbabies.co.uk
- www.nationalwatersafety.org.uk/swimmingpoolsafety/advice/public.htm
- www.puddleducks.co.uk
