This article has been brought to you by Slough Borough Council's Education Safeguarding Professional, Jatinder Matharu, for the attention of all Schools.
Summer Safe Water Campaign
Every year several young people drown in water incidents across the UK. The highest risk group is aged 15 to 24. In 2020 alone, 47 young people nationally (within that age group) lost their lives in a water incident. In several cases, young people did not have the knowledge and understanding of cold-water shock and the hidden dangers below the surface.
Although there is only a short stretch of the Jubilee River which runs through Slough, there have been several deaths of young people at the site, including two within a three-week period in 2018. The Jubilee Safety Partnership is a group of interested partners that come together to look at how we can raise awareness of the dangers of the river and prevent more deaths.
This year will see the launch of a short video aimed at Y7+ which features the story of a young Slough man, Michael Scaife, who drowned in the Jubilee in 2015. This resource can be used for PHSE lessons, and we encourage sharing of the video to parents as well KS3+ Water Safety (rbfrs.co.uk). The session has been designed to look at the dangers when carrying out activities such as swimming in bodies of open water (i.e., lakes, rivers, canals, seas, quarries, etc), participating in water sports, such as paddle boarding, jumping into water (tombstoning), being close to weirs and when visiting the coast. It also covers what to do when a person gets into trouble whilst in the water.
If you would like access or advice on using the package, please e-mail prevention@rbfrs.co.uk . You can also request RBFRS to come into school and do a road and water safety presentation. This proved very successful last year. Additionally, schools police officer PC Louise Sloane will be covering water safety amongst her messages in the terms leading up to the summer break.
By teaching young people how to protect themselves from harm and to take responsibility for their own and others safety when being near to or in the water, we are taking those first, vital steps in keeping young people safe. More information can be accessed here: Be Water Aware (nationalfirechiefs.org.uk)