British children are being put at risk by inadequate water safety education, a charity has warned after the deaths of three boys on Babbs Mill Lake in Solihull.
The Royal Society of Life Saving (RLSS) pointed to wide disparities in swimming ability and risk management skills based on affluence and ethnicity.
The national curriculum has included pool-based lessons since 1994 but many children are missing government-mandated targets for competence in the water.
Sport England’s national activity survey for the academic year 2021-22 found only 72 per cent of Year 7 aged (11-12) children could swim a length unaided – a 6 per cent drop from before the pandemic.
The 2017-18 edition of the survey found as many as one in four children were unable to “self-rescue” in the water. Ethnic disparities were large, with as many as 39 per cent of Black children not meeting the target. The measure was not included in the latest survey.
