Roger Sweeney | Water Safety Ireland | ILSE Best Practice Seminar | 25 April 2026
Ireland has approximately 4 million people and fewer than 100 public swimming pools. The majority of primary schools have no access to an affordable, nearby pool. Traditional water safety education — delivered in the water — simply cannot reach every child in the country.
Water Safety Ireland recognised that waiting for pool infrastructure to catch up was not an option. Children were drowning. The solution was to reimagine the classroom itself — to bring the attitudes, behaviours and skills of water safety into every school, regardless of whether a pool was nearby.
From birth to Junior Certificate — water safety education at every stage of a child's school life. No pool required at any stage.
Early Learning Centres — role play, messy play & storytelling
Primary Schools — classroom-based water safety on the PE & Wellbeing curriculum
Primary Schools — pool-based aquatics where access allows
Junior Cycle Secondary Schools — mandatory PE curriculum, PE hall only
Birth to 6 Years | www.holdhands.ie
Hold Hands is Water Safety Ireland's water safety programme for Early Learning Centres (ELCs), launched in 2021. At its heart is a beautifully simple idea: children should always hold an adult's hand near water. By instilling this one behaviour, lives are saved. The programme uses role play, messy play and storytelling so that young children absorb water safety basics in the protective, familiar environment of their Early Learning Centre.
Hold Hands resources are designed to align with the two national frameworks that all Early Learning Centres in Ireland must follow:
Ireland's national curriculum framework for children from birth to six years. Updated in 2024, it promotes play-based, inclusive learning through four themes: Wellbeing, Identity & Belonging, Communicating, and Exploring & Thinking.
The National Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education, setting standards for quality practice across all early childhood settings in Ireland.
Primary Schools | Ages 4–12 | www.teachpaws.ie
PAWS is Water Safety Ireland's primary school water safety programme. It sits within the Aquatics strand of the Primary School PE curriculum and has two distinct components: a pool-based programme and a classroom-based "Land PAWS" programme. Land PAWS is also a proud partner of the Active School Flag initiative, supported by Healthy Ireland.
The pool-based component delivers hands-on aquatic skills. However, because PAWS sits only within the Aquatics strand — a small section of the overall curriculum — many schools without easy, affordable pool access tend to skip it entirely.
Land PAWS brings the essential attitudes and behaviours of water safety into the classroom — no pool required. It sits within the Physical Education and Wellbeing strand of the Active School Flag programme, making it accessible to every school in Ireland.
Awarded in 2025
Awarded in 2025 — 3.5× more than pool
Land PAWS does not sit within the formal school curriculum — but that is precisely what makes it so powerful. It lives within the Physical Education and Wellbeing strand of the Active School Flag (ASF) programme, a Department of Education initiative supported by Healthy Ireland and the National Physical Activity Plan.
Active School Flag is a non-competitive initiative that recognises primary and post-primary schools that focus on physical activity and physical education. It uses a whole-school approach, anchored by student voice and student leadership, to create physically educated and physically active school communities.
Because Land PAWS sits within the Active School Flag framework — rather than the narrow Aquatics strand of the curriculum — it reaches far more schools. Teachers who might never have considered pool-based water safety are actively encouraged to deliver Land PAWS as part of their school's Active Flag journey.
Water Insights Safety Education | Ages 12–15 | www.getwise.ie
GetWISE is Water Safety Ireland's land-based water safety programme for Junior Cycle secondary school students. It is the most significant achievement in WSI's classroom strategy: GetWISE is embedded in Ireland's mandatory Junior Cycle Physical Education curriculum, meaning every secondary school student in Ireland must engage with water safety — with no pool required.
GetWISE aligns with the Junior Cycle PE Specification (NCCA), Strand 2: Participation, Learning Outcome 2.9 — which requires students to "demonstrate an understanding of personal survival and water safety considerations." This falls under the wider Aquatics activity area, encouraging students to make informed decisions on, in, or near water.
GetWISE uses fundamental movements and simulated rescue scenarios to make water safety physical, engaging and memorable — just as play is central to Hold Hands and Land PAWS.
Getting water safety embedded into Ireland's mandatory school curriculum required more than good resources — it required political engagement, strategic thinking, and a willingness to look beyond the traditional pool-based model. Here is how WSI did it.
PAWS sat only in the Aquatics strand — a small, optional section of the primary curriculum. Schools without pool access simply skipped it. Water safety was not reaching the children who needed it most.
WSI looked at water safety through the eyes of the Physical Education curriculum rather than the Aquatics strand. The question became: how do we make water safety unavoidable for every school?
WSI met with the Minister of State at the Department of Sport and associated Government officials. The case was made: water safety skills can be taught in a PE hall. The result was the introduction of water safety training into the PE strand of the secondary school curriculum.
Water safety became Learning Outcome 2.9 of the Junior Cycle PE Specification — mandatory for every secondary school student in Ireland. WSI staff now deliver CPD to PE teachers nationwide through OIDE.
A programme is only as good as the teachers who deliver it. WSI recognised early that embedding water safety in the curriculum was only half the battle — teachers needed to feel confident and competent to deliver it. The partnership with OIDE made this possible at national scale.
OIDE is the Irish Government's support service for teachers and school leaders, funded by the Department of Education. It provides Continuous Professional Development (CPD) across all subject areas for teachers at every level of the Irish school system.
As part of the OIDE CPD programme for PE teachers, Water Safety Ireland staff deliver training on how to teach the GetWISE component of the Junior Cycle PE curriculum. This means:
Three core principles underpin every WSI classroom programme — from Hold Hands for toddlers to GetWISE for teenagers. These principles are what make the model scalable, sustainable and effective.
From messy play in Early Learning Centres to beach flag races in secondary school PE halls, every WSI programme uses play as its primary teaching method. Play builds genuine attitudes and behaviours — not just knowledge.
WSI doesn't ask schools to add something extra. Every programme is designed to sit within an existing curriculum framework — Aistear, Active School Flag, or the Junior Cycle PE Specification. This removes the burden from teachers and ensures delivery.
The defining feature of WSI's classroom model is that it works everywhere. A storyboard, a PE hall, a whiteboard — these are the only infrastructure needed. Every child in Ireland can be reached.
Aistear (ELC), Active School Flag (Primary), Junior Cycle PE Specification (Secondary) — WSI programmes are embedded in the frameworks teachers already use.
From the Department of Education to Healthy Ireland to OIDE, WSI's classroom programmes have government backing at every level.
WSI Education Officers deliver programmes directly and train teachers through OIDE CPD — ensuring quality and consistency nationwide.
In a single school year, Ireland demonstrated that classroom-based water safety education can reach tens of thousands of children — without a single pool. The numbers speak for themselves.
Issued in 2025 — classroom-based primary school water safety
Issued in 2025 — pool-based primary school water safety
Land PAWS reaches 3.5 times more children than pool-based PAWS
GetWISE is mandatory for all Junior Cycle students — every secondary school in Ireland
The gap between Land PAWS (46,784) and pool PAWS (13,194) certificates is not a failure of the pool programme — it is proof that the classroom model works. Land PAWS is reaching children who would never have received any water safety education at all. And GetWISE, as a mandatory curriculum component, ensures that every secondary school student in Ireland receives water safety training — regardless of where they live or whether their school has a pool.
WSI's Chief Executive has described it as "startling" — two-thirds of accidental drownings in Ireland involve people who had no intention of entering water. They fell in. They slipped. They were caught off guard. This is precisely why classroom-based water safety education matters: it teaches children to recognise hazards, stay alert, and know what to do — before they ever get near the water.
Source: Irish Times, May 2025 / Water Safety Ireland
Water Safety Ireland is Ireland's national statutory body for water safety. For over 20 years, WSI has led national drowning-prevention programmes, public awareness campaigns, and education initiatives that have transformed how Ireland thinks about water safety.
To reduce drowning fatalities in Ireland through education, awareness, and the development of water safety skills across all ages and communities. WSI believes that every drowning is preventable — and that the classroom is one of the most powerful tools we have.
Birth–6 years | Early Learning Centres | www.holdhands.ie
Ages 4–12 | Primary Schools | www.teachpaws.ie
Ages 12–15 | Junior Cycle Secondary Schools | www.getwise.ie
Ireland's experience proves that water safety education does not require a swimming pool. It requires commitment, creativity, and curriculum integration. Here is what every delegate should leave this seminar knowing:
WSI's three programmes — Hold Hands, Land PAWS and GetWISE — prove that water safety can be taught anywhere: an ELC, a primary classroom, a PE hall.
From messy play for toddlers to beach flag races for teenagers, play-based learning is the thread that runs through every WSI programme. It works because children engage with it.
Voluntary programmes get ignored. Curriculum-embedded programmes get delivered. WSI's strategy of embedding water safety into Aistear, Active School Flag and the Junior Cycle PE Specification is what makes the model sustainable.
WSI's engagement with the Minister of State and Government officials was the turning point for GetWISE. Advocacy at the highest level is what turned a good programme into a mandatory one.
46,784 Land PAWS certificates. 13,194 pool PAWS certificates. 100% of Junior Cycle students covered by GetWISE. The classroom model is not a compromise — it is the solution.
The Classroom as a Lifesaving Space