Surrey Park was established over 120 years ago as a not-for-profit organisation with a rich history of delivering swim lessons and coaching to our local community. In order to further engage with our community, give back, and ensure everyone has the opportunity to learn how to swim, be safe and have fun around water, we developed the Community Access Program for Swimming (CAPS).
CAPS was born out of our vision to ensure everyone in our community has access to swimming lessons and water safety education. Starting as a donation-based scheme in 2014, we subsidised beginner swimming lessons for newly arrived migrants, students with disabilities and financially disadvantaged families. Seeing the potential impact and further reach, Surrey Park Swimming now donates 10 cents from every swim lesson undertaken through our learn to swim program at Aqualink. By participating in our learn to swim program you are helping us assist those families whom are struggling financially and educate people about the importance of water safety!
Where our funding is used?
Refugee and Asylum Seeker program
Many migrant communities come to Australia having never seen a beach or pool before. In partnership with the Migrant Information Centre (Box Hill) and other migrant and refugee support organisations, we are engaging these students within our community who are disadvantaged both culturally and financially, to assist them to develop water familiarisation and basic swimming skills.
Our 5-week introduction program has the majority of students comfortable submerging and completing basic swimming skills. Often, these students are assisted further to continue their swimming education until they are comfortable completing survival skills and basic strokes. Equal contributions from Surrey Park Swimming and our generous CAPS funding have allowed us to provide a free program to these swimmers.
Free water safety talks
Water is integral to our way of life here in Australia, from our beautiful beaches and waterways to the local community pool. Unfortunately, we see too many people tragically drowning or getting injured in avoidable situations. At Surrey Park, we are working hard on educating everyone in the community about the importance of safety around water.
To help combat this, we have developed an interactive water safety talk that’s delivered free-of-charge to primary schools, kindergartens, childcare centres and community groups in our area. Our talks cover safety at the beach, at home, around inland waterways and at your local pool with take-home messages for kids and adults alike. With limited existing resources available, the funding is used to cover the cost of additional resources and the wages of our teachers. Feedback from this program has been overwhelmingly positive.
Email: schools@surreypark.org.au if you have any enquiries or would like to book a talk
Financial hardship
Where possible, families and/or community groups experiencing financial hardship are supported who would otherwise not have access to swimming lessons.
