Watch Around Water (WAW) is a campaign educating the public about active supervision, and encouraging parents/guardians to take on the responsibility of this role while visiting aquatic facilities.
The campaign aim is to reduce the number of fatal and non-fatal drowning incidents and associated injuries in public aquatic facilities in Victoria within the 0-14 year age group.
The program supports parents and guardians to keep children safe in and around the water.
If you are supervising children under 10 years, we will give you and your child(ren) a wristband to wear. This helps our lifeguards know that children are cared for in and around the water.
What is the Watch Around Water policy?
Children under 5
- Must be accompanied into the centre and the water by a responsible parent/guardian over the age of 16.
- Must always stay within arm’s reach meaning parents/guardians must physically enter the water with children i.e. cannot be sitting on the edge of the pool with feet in the water. This can largely be attributed the inherent risk associated with the depth of our pool.
- Each parent/guardian must not supervise more than 2 children under 5.
- Unsupervised children will be removed from the water by staff.
- When children are in swim lessons a parent/guardian may not be required to be in the water with the child. However, they must observe the child for the duration of the lesson, ready to collect them at the conclusion of the structured learning.
- The child must wear a pink wristband to indicate age. The parent/guardian must also wear a wristband to indicate the children they are supervising (including during lessons).
Children under 10
- Must be accompanied into the centre by a responsible parent/guardian over the age of 16.
- Must be constantly and actively supervised.
- Parents/guardians must position themselves to have a clear view of the child with no physical or structural barriers between them and the child/children.
- It is strongly recommended that parents/guardians accompany the child into the water and remain within arms reach when swimming in our main pools (water 1m or deeper).
- Unsupervised children will be removed from the water by staff.
- When children are under supervision of a teacher (e.g. swimming lessons), parents/guardians must observe the child for the duration of the lesson, ready to collect them at the conclusion of the structured learning.
- The child must wear a yellow wristband to indicate age. The parent/guardian must also wear a wristband to indicate the children they are supervising (including during lessons)
Parents/guardians
- Parents/Guardians must not supervise a total of more than 4 children under the age of 10 and no more than 2 children under the age of 5.
- When ‘constant and active supervision’ conditions exist, parents/guardians must maintain the ability to provide immediate assistance should their child come into difficulty.
Supervision during swimming lessons
- During lessons, for children under 10 the full Watch Around Water Policy, including the use of wristbands applies.
Children must be actively supervised by the parent during lessons and avoid distractions such as phones, electronic devises, books and should not leave the centre. Should the child or Swim Instructors require the parents’ assistance, Swim Instructor staff should be able to locate parents and gain their attention. - When parents have children participating in a lesson, and another (others) in free play in another area of the pool i.e., Deep Water Pit, it is recognised that it is not always practicable to closely supervise those children in their lesson(s) and priority should be given with the child not under the supervision of the swim teacher and engaging in free play.
Parents supervise, lifeguards save lives.
