Laurie’s passion for water safety
All my life I have been passionate about teaching and educating, and even though the greatest accolades I have received have not been for the thing that I strive for the most I am very happy to have been able help others achieve such great success at the Olympics.
What I am really passionate about is water safety, I have been involved in swimming virtually my whole life, starting when my dad got the lease on the pool at Toobruk.
Since 1988 I have been focused on my passion of saving little ones lives and I have been doing this through the Kids Alive – Do the Five campaign. By visiting the website you can get access to free eBooks, videos, animations and loads of other resources now being used in every early childhood centre across Australia. This brings the safety message to kids at a level where they can understand and enjoy the journey.
But, that is only one part of the solution – we need to teach every child how to swim. I don’t just mean taking them to lessons where they play games, don’t get me wrong games are great and assist in the learning process but they are just not enough. The number one question I get asked is, “where should I take my child to swim?” For years I have told parents to check out a number of swim schools in their area and see what feels right for them. But again, that’s just not enough. So with my girls and a team of experts I have developed a hub where information and education are king, at www.worldwideswimschool.com.
I’ve created must-see resources for parents, swim schools and swim teachers alike. Let’s ensure that everyone that is important in children’s’ lives understand where they’re at in their swimming journey. From nearly 50 years of experience I have designed these modules to help you know and understand the best ways to ensure water safety. This is the greatest information a swim teach, swim school and parent can arm themselves with when children learn to swim.
Looking for more information?
Learn2Swim Week
Learn2Swim Week 2018 is held during the October holidays from October 2 – October 9. It is an inaugural awareness week aimed at educating parents on the importance of teaching kids aged under five to swim. It’s also about reminding everyone about the importance of water safety. For more information visit http://learn2swimweek.com/.
Kids Alive do the Five
With the help of the Australian Government Laurie through his Kids Alive – do the five drowning prevention program has released a water safety pack which has been delivered free to all swim schools registered with AUSTSWIM and Swim Australia. These free resources can be downloaded at no charge via the Kids Alive website at the following link http://www.kidsalive.com.au/early-childhood-program/. Laurie encourages all swim schools to inform families who are attending their centre to log on and get these new water safety resources including animations, e-books and music so that they can continue the water safety education messages at home.
Professional Development Academy
The Professional Development Academy is World Wide Swim School’s dedicated online training platform for teachers. Swim teachers can use these learning programs for upgrade professional development points towards re-accreditation. Learn more here https://worldwideswimschool.com/swim-teachers/.
Laurie Lawrence