"We want to educate children about the dangers of water, without scaring them," says Andrea Matthews, of the new water education programme on offer to schools at the Stratford TSB Pool.
Andrea, manager of the pool, says St Joseph's School Stratford approached them about adapting their school swimming programme.
"The current curriculum had a focus on learning to swim, which is valuable for the younger students but left the senior students with little to learn."
Andrea says the new programme focuses on safety in all kinds of water as well, including how to correctly put on a life jacket, how to react in an emergency and what kinds of emergency items are needed when heading out to sea. Also, for the senior students there will be junior lifeguard training, including how to safely rescue someone from a pool.
The new programme is being structured to align with a Coastguard New Zealand programme, which means once pupils complete the course they will be presented with a certificate of completion.