The City of Cockburn is proud to announce that
Cockburn ARC has been named a winner at the Australian Swim Schools Association’s
2023 National Excellence Awards, taking home the Swim School category for its Swim ARCAdemy program.
The award is given to an organisation that exemplifies a commitment to excellence in teaching swimming and water safety.
Cockburn ARC Centre Manager Toby McCready said Cockburn ARC is dedicated to empowering its community with the knowledge and skills they need to stay safe in and around water, as part of its vision to get “all people, more active, more often.”
“Our programs have been designed with our community in mind and are all about empowering people to be water safe as well as championing this,” Mr McCready said.
In 2022, Royal Life Saving Australia
reported that 39 West Aussies drowned in WA waterways, which is the same as the previous year.
Cockburn ARC focuses on reducing this number by delivering a swimming program that is accessible to everyone, no matter their age or ability.
“Water safety should never be optional, it is a vital life skill that everyone should learn,” Mr McCready said.
Swim ARCademy has previously been named an AUSTSWIM WA School of Excellence for 2021-22.
In addition to this, Cockburn ARC has been commended for its ongoing work in upskilling staff through regular professional development workshops that focus on improving competencies in different areas such as access and inclusion.
“We are committed to continually improving our program to better meet the needs of the community through regular staff training events and using value-adding technology,” Mr McCready said.
With the recent launch of Swim ARCademy’s online portal, it means it is now easier than ever for parents to keep track of their child’s progress and manage their account.
“Everything is shared in real-time, with instructors recording skills reached in the lesson and managing assessments all at the tap of an iPad,” said Mr McCready.
“This information feeds directly to our online portal, so parents and students can immediately see how they are tracking in their lessons.”
Unlike other swimming programs, Swim ARCademy uniquely operates year-round, which means students can move up levels at their own pace.
“Our students learn at their own speed and change levels when they are ready, it is not depended on when a term starts or ends,” said Mr McCready.
All students enjoy the added benefit of being able to access pools outside of lessons at no additional cost to practise skills.
“We want our students to embody swimming as part of their day-to-day life from the time that they join us, which is key to developing water safety behaviours for life,” Mr McCready said.
Since it first opened its doors in June 2017, over 10,000 students have enrolled in our Swim ARCademy program.
Find out more about Swim ARCademy at the
Cockburn ARC website.