The City of Winnipeg announced a pilot program with the Winnipeg School Division to introduce swimming lessons and water safety as part of the school curriculum.

Starting January 2018 and running until the end of the school year, Winnipeg School Division schools will provide swimming skills and water safety education to their Grade 3 and 4 students as part of the Swimming Counts program.

"[Swimming Counts] will provide swimming lessons to students as part of the school curriculum," announced City Councillor Mike Pagtakhan. "Swimming and water safety are big life skills and it's important for all kids to learn these skills."

"I have never seen a program go from an idea to reality in such a short amount of time,"  said Winnipeg School Division (WSD) Trustee Mark Wasyliw.

Approximately 2,300 Grade 3 and 4 students will be given three 40-minute pool times, along with one hour of water safety skills, which will be taught in the classroom. No external sign-up is required and this program will be included in all school curriculum. 

"For many of our students, this will be the first time they have ever been surrounded by waterways," said Wasyliw, referring to the high number of newcomers that attend the WSD. "We have many inner-city students, who haven't had the opportunity [to] learn about water safety."

Swimming Counts is not intended to replace traditional swimming lessons. Rather, it was designed to teach kids how to stay safe around the pool. When the program is over, kids are assigned a swimming level, which allows students to continue their lessons outside of school.

This program partners the City of Winnipeg, WSD, and the Canadian Red Cross.