Swim to Survive being offered next month at Beavermead Beach

How often do your kids swim during the summer months? How confident do you feel your child knows what to do in case of an in-the-water emergency?

The city’s waterfront lifeguards at Beavermead Beach are offering free drowning prevention programs on Saturdays starting July 7.

Every program has a beginning. Swim to Survive evolved after four-year-old Avrey Pringle was swept away by Otonabee River at Inverlea Park in 2010.

Survive to Swim was formed during those following years to make sure an incident like that doesn’t happen again in Peterborough city and county.

Swim to Survive is offered to children ages 5 to 12 from 9:15 to 10:45 a.m., every Saturday from July 7 to Aug. 4.

The drowning prevention program teaches and evaluates young swimmers and how to survive in the water. Examples of drowning prevention techniques that are taught in the classes are, learning to roll into deep water, tread water for one minute and swim 50 metres.

The programs are not swimming lessons and the organizers stress that parents stay with their children during the entire program.

Classes are 30 minutes long and run in three groups—children 5-6, 7-8 and 9-12.

Peterborough Public Health has been testing water safety and bacteria levels at public beaches in the city and county and at Curve Lake and Hiawatha First Nations. As of Thursday afternoon, all the beaches were listed as safe for swimming.

As well as the two city beaches—there are four locations across the city for kids to keep cool at the supervised wading pools and at the five locations of splash pads that will be opening Friday.

To register for Swim to Survive, call the Recreation Division at 705-742-7777, ext. 1873 on weekdays between 8:30 a.m. to 4: 30 p.m., or register in person at the recreation division at 210 Wolfe St.