A new supervision campaign is set to make a splash at CBCity’s Leisure and Aquatic Centres this summer, which has a focus on encouraging parents to watch their children when around water.

As part of the campaign, City of Canterbury Bankstown is giving people the chance to win a FREE ten-week term of swimming lessons, for spreading the safety message – Keep them Alive, Always Supervise.

Mayor Khal Asfour said the campaign is aimed at parents, including those from diverse backgrounds, to make sure they understand the importance of supervising their children when around water.

"It’s no secret that families love heading to the water to cool off on hot summer days," Mayor Asfour said.

"While the water can be fun, it can also be very dangerous, so it is incredibly important everyone understands there are consequences if children aren’t properly supervised.

"That is why we have launched this supervision campaign – to help people understand that to keep children alive when in the water, we must always be supervising them."

To get involved in the campaign, people are encouraged to get creative and take a photo with the campaign posters and share their image on the City of Canterbury Bankstown Leisure and Aquatics’ Facebook Page, where they will have the chance to win a free term of swim lessons.

The campaign also aligns with Royal Life Saving NSW’s Keep Watch @ Public Pools guidelines for keeping children safe around water: 

• 0-5 year olds and non-swimmers: a parent or guardian must be in the water with them, at all times, and be within arm’s reach of the child. 
• 6-10 year olds: a parent should be close enough to make eye contact with the child. 
• 11-14 year olds: a parent must regularly check on their child by physically going to the point where they are in, or around, the water. 

A report recently released by Royal Life Saving NSW found that over five years to 2018, 11 residents from Canterbury-Bankstown, all born overseas, died from drowning.

"By communicating with our residents, including those from culturally and linguistically diverse communities, about water safety, we can help keep them safer around water, including at our leisure and aquatic centres," Mayor Asfour said.

"We want the entire community to feel comfortable in understanding water safety messages, so that they can take this knowledge away and practice it confidently and, ultimately, prevent tragedies."

In conjunction with the campaign, Council’s leisure and aquatics staff are taking part in an online Cultural Competence Program provided by Royal Life Saving NSW, to better engage with the local community about water safety.

For more information, and competition terms and conditions, visit cb.city/supervision