More children from the City of Logan’s diverse cultural backgrounds are learning to swim.
The popular school holiday ‘Kids Alive Do the Five’ swim program made a splash in the school holidays with 2730 vital water safety lessons delivered in the past week.
Bookings are now flooding in for Term 4 as the warmer weather and easing of pandemic restrictions see an increase in kids taking to the pool.
City Lifestyle Chair, Councillor Laurie Koranski, said Council’s swimming programs have proved popular with the city’s multicultural communities.
“Our culturally diverse communities are taking to the classes like ducks to water,” Councillor Koranski said.
“This includes an increase in children from Arabic-speaking backgrounds which is promising given our city’s rich diversity of 217 different nationalities.
“By improving swimming skills, it builds their confidence, increases participation in sport and physical activity, and ultimately saves lives.”
Council will launch a series of classes for new Australians aged 16 years and over, commencing Monday, October 11 at Aqualogan Logan North (Underwood) and Saturday, October 16 at Aqualogan Beenleigh.
The free eight-hour Swim Logan program is aimed at newly arrived migrants and refugees living in the City of Logan.
Council has partnered with the Aqua English Project and Ethnic Communities Council of Queensland (ECCQ) to deliver the programs.
Free water safety education sessions are also available in multiple languages including English, Dari, Farsi, Russian, Burmese, Swahili, Samoan, Arabic and Chinese.
Swim Logan participants also benefit from training, upskilling and capacity building to contribute to social inclusion through physical activity.
This includes the provision of culturally-appropriate swimwear, signage, first aid and CPR training and opportunities for participants to upskill as pool instructors.
Common barriers to participation are addressed by providing free swimwear, transport and supervised activities for children during sessions.
Swim Logan is funded by the Australian Government Department of Health.
To book, visit loganleisurecentres.com.au/swimlogan.
