Junior Club Sessions
Age 8 to 14 years
Monday Nights 7pm to 8pm
The Junior Club sessions are held on a Monday night between 7pm and 8pm and are for children aged between 8 and 14 years. Juniors are taught basic lifesaving a first aid skills by our volunteer teachers and much of the work is based around the syllabus of the RLSS UK ROOKIE LIFEGUARD scheme and also Lifesaving 1, 2, and 3. Juniors are also trained in competition techniques with a view to entering competitions at local, county and national level. Our friendly teachers consist largely of members of club committee and experienced senior members of the club. All teachers are CRB checked.
Designed for our junior members, the scheme allows participants to develop their lifesaving skills over 3 levels - Bronze, Silver and Gold. Each level comprises of 3 stages allowing participants to progress upwards, building on their skills and providing new and challenging activities to reinforce water safety and basic rescue techniques. The scheme can be started at any level and there are no formal assessments - each activity is simply signed off by the trainer when the participant and successfully they can complete it. There are also a range of bolt on activities that are still being developed to add more fun and diversity to the scheme. The below extract is RLSS description and introduction to the scheme.
"The Rookie Lifeguard programme is aimed primarily at children from eight years old and above. The course, which has been designed by water safety specialists at RLSS UK, is designed to ensure that every child in the country has essential water skills to keep themselves safe and knowledge of what to do in an emergency. The programme features swimming and lifesaving skills supported by water safety education, allowing participants to enjoy swimming as an activity and, vitally, to protect their lives should an accident occur in or out of the water." (from www.rlss.org.uk/rookie)"
Bronze Level - Bronze level introduces basic lifesaving skills and rescue principles and helps built confidence amongst the participants. Activities at this level include entering and leaving the water safely, treading water, identification of the different types of casualties, basic land based rescues and a wade in rescue.
Silver Level - Silver level builds on the skills developed during Bronze (although participants can start at any stage of the the scheme) and introduces some more complex rescue techniques. It also increases the challenge to participants by slightly decreasing the time limits on certain activities and pushing them a little further.
Gold Level - Gold level introduces further rescue techniques and increases the challenge by reducing time limits and increases swimming and towing distances. This is hardest level of the scheme but should is designed to be easily achievable by young people within the target age range of the awards.
Other Rookie Awards
Rookie Life Support - This award is essentially the same as the normal RLSS Life Support Award taken by all members of the club. In order to gain this award candidates must demonstrate effective CPR on a manikin, turn a live casualty, show action for vomiting and demonstrate the recovery position and also be able to treat bleeding, choking and shock. The main difference between this award and the main award it the badge and certificate that can be earned (see below).
Rookie Achievement Award - These awards are designed for those with special educational needs or disabilities that may mean they are unable to participate the main bronze, silver and gold awards.
Rookie Water Safety Award - This is awarded to participants who complete the 'Water Smart' booklet and answer a short quiz. Members who wish to participate in this award will be able to purchase the Water Smart booklet from the club shortly.
Bolt-On Awards - There will be a number of bolt-on awards available as the scheme develops further however at this stage they are still being developed by the RLSS and full details have yet to be announced.
Rookie Master Lifeguard - This award has yet to be released, but we anticipate it will be a final award once a rookie has completed the gold level 3 and also a number of bolt-on awards.
Competitions
Junior members are encouraged to enter competitions run at a local, regional and national level. Please see the competition section for more information. Please note that the club does not force any member to compete.
Rookie Lifeguard Awards