Become an approved provider of Water Skills for Life

Becoming a WSFL approved provider is an excellent opportunity for swim schools to improve their visibility, gain more credibility and access valuable resources and assets that will help promote their schools for free. Don't miss out on this fantastic opportunity to take your swim school to the next level.

Becoming an approved provider

Approved Requirements

Below you'll find the step by step process information for your swim school to become an approved Water Skills for Life provider.

THE PROCESS

Step One

Ensure that all staff involved in the delivery of Water Skills for Life are approved educators. An approved educator is someone that has completed the Water Skills for Life e-learning course (available online taking only a few hours) and having passed the assessment. 

Step Two

Ensure that your delivery programme consists of at least eight (8) 30 minute sessions per year supporting students to gain proficiency in all seven of the water survival competencies that make up the Water Skills for Life programme by the end of year eight. 

Step Three

Your swim school curriculum must be well-designed, age-appropriate, and cover all of the Water Skills for Life competencies. Submit a copy of your lesson plans to the WSFL Interventions Lead for mapping against the WSFL competencies

Step Four

Introduce creativity in your lesson involves by adapting the competencies to real-life open water scenarios, encouraging critical thinking and creative problem-solving, and using innovative techniques or equipment.

Step Five

Assess student capability using the seven water survival competencies. Ensure that your student information is maintained up to date in the Water Skills for Life database.

Step Six

Have your instructors participate in the Water Skills for Life self-review an early check in to ensure that your instructors are well set up and supported to deliver great Water Skills for Life programmes.

Step Seven

Promote your delivery of the Water Skills for Life programme, consistent with the WSFL Branding Guidelines.

Step Eight

Regularly review your delivery programme looking for opportunities to improve the impact and efficiency of your programme.

Step Nine

Participate in periodic external assessment of your delivery programme by Water Safety New Zealand. This assessment ensures that your programme delivers all seven of the water survival competencies, confirms your ability to continue to be a part of the Water Skills for Life programme and will identify opportunities to improve your delivery. 

Once your swim school becomes an approved provider with Water Safety New Zealand (WSFL), you'll receive a range of benefits that will help promote your school and attract more students. One of the most significant advantages is being listed on the Water Skills for Life website's New Zealand map, which showcases your swim school as an approved provider. The Water Skills for Life website receives a high amount of traffic, which means that by being listed on it, your swim school's visibility will increase significantly, giving you free advertising value of up to $10,000 per year.

Additionally, you will be provided with a range of branding assets including a WSFL Approved Provider certificate and sticker that you can place at the front entrance of your swim school. This will help build trust with potential students and parents, as they will see that you are an approved provider of WSFL and take water safety seriously. Moreover, you will receive branding assets such as social media assets, WSFL logo that you can use on your website and printed material, giving your swim school a professional and cohesive look. Best of all, all these benefits come for free once you become a WSFL approved provider.

Once Approved

Approved Sticker & Certificate

Once approved your swim school will receive a branding pack from Water Safety New Zealand with the official stickers, certificates and other assets required to promote your swim school as an approved provider of Water Skills for Life.

Example Social Media Assets

All approved providers will be sent a digital branding pack with logos, images, social media tiles, website banners and other media required to promote your swim school as an approved provider of Water Skills for Life.

You will also gain access to Water Safety New Zealand marketing support if you require other assets to promote the programme.

Water Safety New Zealand Advertising

Approved providers will be advertised on the Water Safety New Zealand and Water Skills for Life websites. With a map and profile function for members of public to find their local provider. Approved providers will also be advertised on the Water Safety New Zealand social media channels and tagged in relevant posts / stories regularly.

Get Started

Please submit your details on the form and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.

Note - you must upload your lesson plans as part of the application.