Throughout our Learn to Swim program all year round we promote and teach a variety of water safety opportunities. Water Safety Week is an opportunity to merge and revisit those vital messages and understandings. During water safety week swimmers will have the opportunity to swim in clothing and without goggles. If a child were to unexpectedly fall into the water, research tells us that a swimmers aquatic capabilities drop by 50%. Wearing clothing in the water becomes very heavy and makes it very challenging to perform basic swimming skills. Different clothing is required for different levels. The higher the swimmers level the more challenging the clothing selection:
| LEVEL | CLOTHES REQUIRED |
| 1 | T-Shirt |
| 2 | T-Shirt |
| 3 | T-Shirt |
| 4 | T-Shirt & Shorts |
| 5 | T-Shirt & Long Pants |
| 6 | Long Shirt & Long Pants |
| 7 | Long Shirt & Long Pants |
| 8 and Jnr Squad | Long Shirt & Long Pants |
Water Safety Week also covers the following learning opportunities:
- safe entries and exits, choices depend on the aquatic environment and the capability of the swimmer;
- rescues, what to do if the swimmer finds themselves in danger or sees someone else in danger;
- revisit survival swimming strokes like Survival Backstroke and Breaststroke, all involve underwater arm recovery which is vital if a swimmer were to fall into water fully clothed;
- a variety of safety messages, for example, never swim alone and always swim between the red and yellow flags at the beach; and
- revisit Swim Australia’s Layers of Protection: Be Aware, Be Secure, Be Confident and Be Prepared