17/07/2025

The Department for Education (DfE) announced this week that the Water Safety Code will be integrated into the newly released Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education, and Health Education (RSHE) statutory guidance¹ for schools in England.

This significant development results from an ongoing campaign championed by the Royal Life Saving Society UK (RLSS UK) to enhance water safety education for students in primary and secondary schools. The statutory inclusion of this vital education marks a key step toward equipping young individuals with the knowledge and skills necessary to navigate water environments safely.

As part of RLSS UK’s national Drowning Prevention Week campaign, the charity hosted an event at Westminster on June 17, 2025, to advocate for the formal inclusion of statutory water safety education in the National Curriculum. The event highlighted alarming new data showing that 141 children aged 0-17 from England, Scotland, and Wales drowned in the past three years. Additionally, data from England shows that child drownings have doubled since the 2019-20 period.²

Simmy Akhtar, CEO of RLSS UK, commented, "This long-awaited announcement is significant, and we are pleased that our lobbying efforts and well-documented responses to last year's Consultation have yielded positive results. Our collaborative efforts with the Government and our ongoing commitment to ensuring that all children learn how to be safe in, on and around water have made a substantial impact."

Andy Lane, Education Manager at RLSS UK, added, “The inclusion of the Water Safety Code as a statutory requirement in the RSHE guidance for both primary and secondary schools is excellent news. However, it is long overdue, and RLSS UK has been campaigning for this for many years.”

Lord Storey, CBE, said, “This update is exactly what is needed—finally turning years of advocacy into tangible curriculum change that will save lives. I wholeheartedly welcome the inclusion of the Water Safety Code in the updated DfE RSHE guidance. I am a long-standing advocate for water safety education and have repeatedly stressed that learning to swim is only part of the solution.”

Collaboration among various organisations, including the National Water Safety Forum, which RLSS UK is a member of, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), and Swim England, has been instrumental in driving change in water safety education. All these organisations consistently teach the Water Safety Code, ensuring that the same essential content is shared across the board. A critical element of this code is knowing how to float, which can be vital for individuals who unexpectedly find themselves in water. Research conducted by Mike Tipton, a professor at the University of Portsmouth, has also provided key data that supports and promotes this critical change in water safety education for young people.

No one welcomes the news more, though, than those who have been directly affected by the tragic loss of life from accidental drowning. Vanessa Abbess - Joe Abbess’s mother - has been a powerful and consistent voice in support of embedding the Water Safety Code into the RSHE curriculum. After losing her seventeen-year-old son to a rip current at Bournemouth beach in 2023, she joined an RLSS UK event at Westminster, urging MPs to back mandatory classroom water safety lessons, including the Water Safety Code.

She believes teaching how to respond to unexpected situations in the water, such as rip currents, in addition to swimming, is essential. She has advocated for statutory inclusion, insisting that water safety lessons, including the Water Safety Code, should be a requirement of the curriculum to ensure every child is educated on this vital topic. Additionally, she has promoted practical drills and encouraged the integration of simple, actionable exercises, like floating, into lessons to make water safety second nature.

Vanessa expressed her feelings, "I was delighted to hear that water safety has been added as statutory to the National Curriculum for primary and secondary children in England. I feel that this knowledge will potentially reduce water-related deaths and save thousands of lives. I hope that through education, the Water Safety Code will be as broadly known as 'The Green Cross Code' for road safety, so that future generations know how to improve their chances of survival if they are in difficulty in open water.”

“Since the tragic death of our son Joe, I have passionately campaigned to raise awareness of the dangers and unpredictability of the sea, so I feel this is a very positive step, a lasting legacy to all of those who have lost their lives to drowning and a glimmer of hope for their heartbroken families."

Darren Paffey, MP for Labour in Southampton Itchen (Vanessa's constituency), has strongly supported including water safety education in the Department for Education's updated RSHE guidance. He has been a vocal advocate for Vanessa's appeal to make water safety education mandatory across England, arguing that swimming lessons alone are insufficient.

RLSS UK and its key partners have long advocated for class-based water safety education in schools across the UK and Ireland.

Child drownings have doubled in the past five years.² This change by the DfE can help change the trajectory. Children and young people need knowledge and skills that will enable them to make informed decisions. Teaching the Water Safety Code will provide clear, simple advice and guidance for children to enjoy water safely, free from drowning.

RLSS UK will continue to advocate for a safer future for our children across the UK and Ireland. 

Download Free Resources to Promote the Water Safety Code 

¹Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education guidance. Pages 24 and 31.

²National Child Mortality Database (NCMD), England.