Following the sad death of William McNally from Linwood High in the River Gryffe in June 2021, Renfrewshire Council and partners have been working to formalise the work around Water Safety. This has included devising a new Renfrewshire Water Safety Policy, forming a Renfrewshire Water Safety Working Group, visiting and placing Public Rescue Equipment (PRE) at areas of danger/need and working with Water Safety Scotland to assist in ensuring waterways in Renfrewshire are as safe as possible.
As well as place new PRE (lifebelts and throw ropes) at 6 locations along the River Gryffe, new equipment has been placed at Boden Boo in Erskine with further equipment due to be placed at the River Cart behind the Watermill Hotel. In addition, Renfrewshire Council has commissioned a local start up company (Just Dive In) to work with partners (Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, Police Scotland and Renfrewshire Council – Community Safety) to deliver water safety talks to P7 pupils. Due to resource, this will be delivered and offered to schools over two years, with the Renfrewshire Water Safety Working Group paying for the first session for the school (subsequent sessions will require the school to fund).
OneRen has also devised a Water Safety First Aid training package that again can be delivered to school pupils – the Water Safety Group will again use funding to assist in paying for relevant courses. Contact details on how to book both sessions are on the Glow Blogs website.
As you are aware, there has been a national focus on Water Safety and resources have been developed by Water Safety Scotland and Education Scotland to allow lessons to be planned and delivered. The first level was released in July 2022 and can be found at https://education.gov.scot/improvement/learning-resources/Water-Safety with further levels to follow in 2022 and 2023. The Renfrewshire Safe Kids Event also had a short presentation by Scottish Fire and Rescue on Water Safety and the video will be uploaded to Glow Blogs when complete.
Water Safety Sessions – Just Dive In – Laura Hamilton – info@just-dive.co.uk
Water Safety First Aid – OneRen – Alan Cunningham – alan.cunningham@renfrewshire.gov.uk
In partnership with Water Safety Scotland, Education Scotland has brought together partner agencies – including RNLI and Scottish Swimming as well as public sector groups – to create these learning resources to support water safety education across all ages and stages.
Here’s Olympian Duncan Scott talking about how to stay safe.
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