The Safety & Survival Swimming Program has been added to the School District of Oconee County 3rd Grade Curriculum. This program has been built into the 3rd grade schedule, therefore, your student will not be missing other instructional time while participating in the Safety & Survival Swimming Program. During regularly scheduled school hours, your student will travel via school bus from their school to the Foothills Area YMCA. The Safety & Survival Swimming Program is a 4 day program (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday). Students spend 90 minutes a day (including time to change after swimming – students should arrive at school wearing their bathing suit under their clothing) at the Foothills Area YMCA for water safety instruction. The Safety & Survival Swimming Program is not a field trip for students, it is part of the planned instruction for your child’s 3rd grade year. 

Students are divided into small instructional groups based on their swim level. The average student to instructor ratio is 7 to 1, not including the lifeguard on the pool deck. The groups will rotate through learning stations around the pool. All students will participate in all learning stations. The instructors will tailor each learning station to the swim abilities of each group. For more specific information regarding the skills covered in the Safety & Survival Swimming curriculum please refer to the Topics Covered in SDOC Safety & Survival Swimming Program section of this website. For those students who are unable to participate in the pool (e.g., broken arm), there will be land activities / learning offered when possible. 

On the Permission Slip you will evaluate your student’s swim ability by selecting the description that best describes your student’s level of comfort / skill in the water. Please feel free to add any comments in the space provided that would help the YMCA to best accommodate your student. Students will be assigned by their skill level to best maximize the water safety and swim instruction. 

Each school comes to the Foothills Area YMCA for 4 days (Monday through Thursday) for the Safety & Survival Swimming Program. The Friday night of the same week will be your student’s Friday Family Fun Night. During Friday Family Fun Night, your student and all members of your family are welcome to come swim for free. Friday Family Fun Night will take place from 6:30 – 8:00 p.m.  At 7:00 p.m., the students will demonstrate the skills they learned during the SDOC Safety & Survival Swimming Program. The remainder of the time will be free swim for students and their families. Upon arrival, please check in with the Welcome Desk.

All of our volunteers are background checked and go through Child Abuse Awareness training. Additionally, all volunteers undergo training on the specific skills taught in the Safety & Survival Swimming Program.

All 3rd grade students in Oconee County will participate in the Safety & Survival Swimming Program at the YMCA. Other than completing the Parent Permission slip and answering the questions listed on the permission form, you do not need to separately register your student with the YMCA.

Your student should arrive at school wearing their bathing suit under their clothing. After swimming, students will change out of their bathing suits at the YMCA. Please be mindful of the difficulty of changing into some types of clothing when wet. It is recommended that you dress your student in clothing that is easy to change into. On the first day, all other equipment (towel, undergarments [needed for changing post-swim], t-shirt (non-cotton) or rash guard [to wear in water if student would feel more comfortable], brush/comb, hair tie [if needed], glasses case [if needed]), should be in a plastic grocery bag. Each student will be given a drawstring bag to keep upon arrival at the Y. 

If your student forgets their bathing suit or other swim equipment, please make every effort to drop it off directly at your student’s elementary school. If necessary, the Welcome Desk at the YMCA can accept their equipment. A limited number of bathing suits will be available for students in need of swim attire.

Unfortunately, for the safety of all students, you are not permitted to observe the program live. (Some teachers may live stream the water instruction, however, this is on a school by school basis.) As all of our volunteers must be background checked and undergo training to work with your students, we cannot allow members of the public access to the pool deck while the Safety & Survival Swimming Program is underway. Additionally, parent presence would be a distraction for the students. 

If SDOC should cancel a day of school during your student’s assigned week, that Friday will be the makeup date for your student’s school. If there is inclement weather or mechanical issues and students cannot be in the pool, the YMCA will pivot to land learning activities with the students. 

Unfortunately, there is not an option for your student to attend an alternative week.