Schools Can't Do It Alone. Swimming Education Needs Community Support
UR Digital Pty Ltd
Key Facts:- Research from Royal Life Saving Australia reveals that schools allocate just 7.5 hours per year to learn-to-swim programmes, with 31% of schools no longer offering such programmes at all, citing cost, staffing limitations, and lack of curriculum time as the primary barriers.
- Almost half of Australian Year 6 students are estimated to leave primary school without meeting the National Swimming Benchmark, highlighting a significant gap in children's water safety skills.
- Aquabliss Swim School, opening a new location in Willowdale to serve South West Sydney on 18 July, argues that swimming education should be a shared responsibility between schools, families, and community providers rather than the sole burden of schools.
- Royal Life Saving Australia also found that many children stop swimming lessons between the ages of seven and nine, despite evidence that swimming ability shows little improvement after Year 7 for those who fall behind.
- Aquabliss encourages parents to continue swimming education beyond school programmes, promote regular swimming throughout the year, and seek community-based opportunities that complement classroom learning.
Australian schools are instrumental in teaching children to swim and stay safe around water, but growing pressures on time, staffing and budgets mean swimming education is becoming a shared responsibility between schools, families and community providers. Swimming is one of the few school subjects that can mean the difference between life and death—yet for too many Australian children, access to these lifesaving skills is quietly slipping away.
Research from Royal Life Saving Australia paints a picture of schools doing their best within tightening constraints. The Children's Swimming & Water Safety Skills Report 2025 found that schools allocate just 7.5 hours a year to learn-to-swim programs, while 31% of schools no longer offer a learn-to-swim program at all. Among those that do not, the most cited barriers are the cost of lessons, limited staff resources and capability, and lack of curriculum time. The report also found one in four schools no longer conduct a swimming carnival.
The findings come as almost half of Australian Year 6 students are estimated to leave primary school without meeting the National Swimming Benchmark, reinforcing the importance of helping children continue developing their swimming and water safety skills beyond school-based programs.
Aquabliss Swim School, which is opening its Willowdale location to support families and schools across South West Sydney on 18 July, says the report highlights the value of collaboration rather than criticism.
"Schools are doing an incredibly important job introducing children to swimming and water safety, but they are working within restrictive confines," said Nitin Singhi, Managing Director of Aquabliss.
"We should never expect schools to carry the responsibility alone. Swimming is a life skill that develops over many years, not over a handful of lessons each year.
"The best outcomes happen when schools, parents and community swim providers work together. Each has a different role to play, and together they can give children the confidence and skills they need to be safer around water."
Aquabliss works with many local primary and secondary schools to deliver tailored learn-to-swim programs and pool access that complement classroom learning and help make swimming education more accessible for students.
Aleena Johnston, Area Manager – Southern Sydney of Aquabliss said swimming ability develops through consistent practice and exposure over time. "Learning to swim is a journey, not a short course," she said.
"Children build skills through repetition. Every lesson reinforces confidence, technique and decision-making in the water. The more opportunities they have to practise in a safe, supervised environment, the more those skills become second nature. School programs provide an invaluable foundation, but ongoing practice outside the classroom helps children retain those skills and apply them in different aquatic environments."
Royal Life Saving Australia also found that many children stop swimming lessons between the ages of seven and nine, despite evidence that swimming ability shows little improvement after Year 7 for those who fall behind.
Aquabliss encourages parents to support school swimming programs by:
- Continuing swimming education beyond school-based programs where possible.
- Encouraging children to swim regularly throughout the year.
- Reinforcing water safety conversations at home.
- Helping children build confidence as well as technique through ongoing practice.
- Seeking community-based swimming opportunities that complement school learning.
"Every child deserves the opportunity to become a confident swimmer," Mr Singhi said. "When schools, families and community providers work together, we give children the best chance of developing skills that will benefit and keep them safe for life."
About us:
About Aquabliss Swim School
With a 26-year history, the Aquabliss Group which includes the McKeon Swim School group in Wollongong, delivers 500,000 learn-to-swim lessons each year, as well as squad swimming, pool hire and aqua across eight swim schools in New South Wales. With facilities at Seven Hills, Pymble, Gregory Hills and the soon-to-open Willowdale in the Sydney region, Mittagong in the Southern Highlands, Thornton in Newcastle and Unanderra and Towradgi in Wollongong, the Aquabliss Group has 350 employees and is a leading provider of end-to-end aquatic education services. Led by Managing Director Nitin Singhi, Aquabliss is keen to support the growing demand for swimming and water safety skills across New South Wales.
Contact details:
Pulkit Agrawal
0468 376 022