Drowning Prevention Week (DPW), this year is running from 12/19 June 2027.
The Royal Life Saving Society’s (RLSS) campaign is designed to explore a multitude of opportunities to proactively raise awareness of water safety ahead of a summer outdoors. Starting in May, through the summer, the risk to the public through accidental drowning increases significantly – DPW is critical in raising awareness and encouraging the public to enjoy water safely.
Access FREE Primary School teaching resources for a cross-curricular theme week – teaching young people how to be safe near and in the water and prevent a steep increase in accidental drownings this summer.
Further supporting resources can also be found at: https://www.rlss.org.uk/printable-resources
Water safety education resources for a Secondary School
According to the latest Child Drowning Update (2024), child drowning deaths in England have doubled since 2019-20. Between April 2019 and March 2024, a total of 165 children lost their lives to drowning, with the annual death rate reaching 3.40 per million children in the most recent reporting year—a 100% increase from four years prior.
Teenagers remain the group at the highest risk. Data shows that children aged 13–17 years have the highest drowning rate of any age group, at 4.51 per million. Furthermore, nearly half (47%) of all child drownings occurred in inland open water, such as rivers and lakes, often involving older children and teenagers.
It is vital to teach secondary school-aged children how to stay safe in, on, and around water, especially as the long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to be felt. Projections indicate that by the 2025/26 academic year, the number of children able to swim 25 metres will have fallen by nearly 900,000 compared to pre-pandemic levels, leaving a significant “at-risk” generation entering adulthood without basic water competency.
Secondary School teaching booklet and further resources can be found here;
Drowning – It’s up to you video
#2 Coastal and Beach Water Sites
#4 Drowning and Cold Water Shock