Educating young people to appreciate and participate in enjoyable, safe beach and aquatic activities is a key strategy in the prevention of drowning. Water safety organisations have two target groups when considering the safety of young people; their members, and the wider public.

This poster presentation will identify three programs delivered by Surf Life Saving Australia to deliver water safety education programs to (a) SLSA junior members, and (b) to the youth of Australia. The three programs are:

Surf Education –  a program designed to provide a basis for training programs conducted by clubs for junior members (5-13 years of age). This program was revised last summer.

‘Surf’s Up!’ – a new cross-curricula program provided to all schools in Australia that work with students aged 9-12 years. This program provides an up-to-date teaching resource for teachers across 9300 schools in Australia and was developed for SLSA by the Australian Curriculum Corporation.

Telstra Beach-To-Bush – The Telstra Beach to Bush Surf Safety Program offers school-age children in regional areas an introduction to surf lifesaving with the assistance of trained surf lifesavers. These areas have generally been disregarded in the past in terms of the delivery of surf safety programs due to their distance from the beach.