Provided by James Woodhouse | RNLI Water Safety Education Manager, South East
This summer, lifeguards cannot be on every beach, meaning a heightened water safety risk to beachgoers.
We are asking you to help us share some important messages to children and their families. Although you may be a fair distance from the beach, we are seeing an increase in the distances people are travelling to visit the coast, therefore it is important that we share the messaging inland as well as near the coast.
We have already seen the influx of beachgoers in the past few weeks after some of the restrictions were lifted and the summer weather arrived. In a normal year, the RNLI helps thousands of people who end up getting into difficulty in or close to the water when doing these types of activities.
Throughout the summer term, our local team of trained volunteers and lifeguards do their best to visit as many of the schools, colleges, and youth groups in our region as possible. However, due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, we have not been able to engage with school communities as we normally would in your region.
We have taken the time over the last couple of months to carefully condense and design our resources which are aimed at primary and secondary school children, whilst also ensuring they are appropriate to be taught from home or through online classrooms. This can be by a parent, guardian, or teacher.
Below, you will find out ways in which you can help at this time.
Educating young people about how to keep safe in, on, and around water is fundamental to saving lives at sea and a core part of the RNLI’s water safety activity. This term we have put together two downloadable packs of resources focusing on keeping safe this summer.
Please help by sharing the RNLI & MCA’s Beach Safety Campaign with parents, guardians, and your wider network. Beach lifeguards cannot be everywhere this summer – it is vital every one of us takes responsibility for our own, and our families’, safety.
Finally, we would like to thank you in advance for any support in spreading the water safety message. We appreciate the current times are busy and challenging and any support you can give really will help in spreading awareness to young people and their families about how to keep safe at the beach.