Lake Macquarie City Council is expanding its water safety training programs in a bid to improve children's swimming skills and ensure that all kids across the city feel safe and confident in and around the water.
While the council's swimming program is currently available to a number of schools throughout the city, the expansion is set to make the the program more widely available and increase engagemrnt and participation in school activites promoting water safety.
Manager of Leisure Services at Lake Maquarie Council Brad Sutton says the aim of the development is to reduce the number of deaths as a result of drowning in the Hunter not just in household pools but all waterways.
"We want to do everything we can to ensure kids across Lake Macquarie are confident and capable in the water."
The council is also investigating how to make the vital program more accessible for all families in the Hunter by looking into the feasibility of providing subsidised out-of-school learn to swim programs for children in lower socio-economic areas.
The announcement of the program expansion comes after data from Royal Life Saving Australia was released last week showing that 965 Australian children under the age of five have died from drowning in the past 25 years.
