This article is from page 41 of the 2008-11-18 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 41 JPG
BEING water safety aware in west Clare is a matter of survival.
With most villages situated close to the sea, estuary or lakes, childhood summers are spent splashing about in the local swimming area.
Staying safe while enjoying the lo- cal amenities 1s a concern for par- OES
Schools in the west Clare area have taken it upon themselves to ensure the local children are prepared deal with many of the hazards associated with water.
As a result PAWS (Primary Aquat- ics Water Safety) programme has be- come part of the school programme in many west Clare schools.
The programme is exclusive to pri- mary school children and is broken up into two parts – land based paws and water based PAWS.
Three schools in west Clare have already completed the programme, Doonbeg National School, Cree Na- tional School and Shragh National School.
The programme taught the children about respecting water and the dan- gers surrounding it.
The teachers took their classes through the first three parts of the award without going near water by discussing and studying the theory of water safety, safe swimming, safety on the farm, and safety on open wa- ae
The pupils also simulated rescues on land, by throwing a rescue rope into a designated area.
Through PAWS pupils not only learn how to swim they also learn to understand and appreciate the water.
The pupils then attended swimming classes with swimming teacher Jen- nifer Mungovan at Quilty Swimming
Pool for a duration of six weeks.
Before receiving their certificates the children had to complete an oral exam and a swimming exam.
Having completed the PAWS pro- gramme the pupils had the ability to swim, interact with others, and be responsible around water.
“The main aim of PAWS is to sig- nificantly reduce the number of our young people lost to drowning each year,’ said Ms Mungovan