Personal Survival   Click here to find out who needs to finish off the last couple of bits from their assessment if we ran out of time   Historically, the Club trained swimmers to awards such as the Bronze Medallion of the Royal Life Saving Society. Unfortunately, due to teachers and helpers moving on, we had to suspend this activity for some years until we could learn some of the expertise and recruit suitable helpers.  We are now back on track, delivering knowledge and skills throughout the year, focusing on a 4 week course specifically for Personal Survival skills for all the swimmers.     The Awards are: Preliminary Safety Skills  National Curriculum Water Safety Award Personal Survival 1 Personal Survival 2 Extension courses that work towards contact rescues, taken from Royal Life Saving Society training modules. The PS courses provide the ever popular opportunity to SWIM IN PYJAMAS!  If you came through the Club as a young swimmer, you will know how much fun this is!     The serious side of the courses aim to: Teach the swimmers the rules of the Water Safety Code, developed by the RLSS Provide and develop knowledge in how to prevent accidents happening in the potentially hazardous environment of open water, ie beaches, rivers, canals, reservoirs, even ponds Teach the swimmers the appropriate response to an incident and the correct equipment to use - or not to use! Make sure that EACH and EVERY swimmer has an awareness of their own responsibility for their safety and that of others, ie vandalising rescue equipment may cost a life Make sure that EACH and EVERY swimmer has a basic understanding of what to do if they get into difficulties in the water, or if they see someone else in trouble in the water We set homework (find this on the Download page - but this is being reviewed for the 2008 courses) for these courses to make sure that the individual swimmer has understood what they have been taught, both during the lesson and in the time on poolside where a lot of the theory knowledge is given and discussed.  We take the swimmers on a tour of poolside to read all the notices and signs, look at the safety equipment, talk about the role of the lifeguards, etc.  The swimmers are obviously not in the water for this part of the lesson but they are learning information that they will need for their award and their safety.  The practical assessments show that they are physically capable of helping.  Some of the practical skills take some time to teach, particularly for throw rescues with bags as the bags take so long to refill!  We require swimmers to pass both parts of the course to get the ASA award.  The homework is in the form of either worksheets to colour in, spot the differences, etc for the younger swimmers, up to more specific questions for older swimmers.  This is also a great way of getting the parents, carers or siblings to learn a bit too - we often find that the swimmers are teaching the old 'uns a thing or two! No homework = no award!   In addition, we provide a 4 week extension course for those swimmers who have passed the Amateur Swimming Association's Personal Survival 1 (PS1) and Personal Survival 2 (PS2).  This is based on the Royal Life Saving Society's syllabi for the Bronze, Silver and Gold medallions.  This a more challenging course where the swimmers undertake role-play rescues within the groups, but without a formal award at the end.  It's good fun but serious stuff! We've managed to find a way to incorporate a bit of PS into our annual gala with the Lifesaving Relay - great fun!  Have a look at the Gala Information page for more details.   We are aiming to improve our skills so that we can continue to raise the standard of our Personal Survival and basic lifesaving courses.