Swimsafe Taranaki is a not-for-profit company delivering high-quality swimming and water safety education to primary and intermediate schools.
“In Taranaki, we’ve got 84 primary and intermediate schools and 53 of them still have their own school pools. They can swim every day in summer, which is fabulous,” said Swimsafe Director Cecilie Elliott.
“Swimsafe Taranaki upskills and trains schoolteachers to give them the confidence in teaching both swimming skills and survival skills to their students. Schoolteachers are often teaching a class of 25, which is very different from a swim school where you might have only five children in a lesson.”
Cecilie has taught swimming for more than 30 years and is passionate about aquatic education. When Swimming New Zealand stopped working in schools, she established Swimsafe Taranaki in 2024 to fill the gap.
With support from Toi Foundation, Cecilie and her two contractors offer schools throughout Taranaki free teacher training, poolside support and interactive classroom sessions covering beach, river and boating safety.
“In the classroom sessions we teach children about rips and currents, how to recognise an emergency and what they can do to survive.
“They learn how to go down a river feet first if you’re caught, what hypothermia is and how to deal with it, safe boating skills and fitting life jackets. Then the children go and practise what they have learnt in the classroom in their pool sessions.”
Cecilie says feedback from Taranaki school principals reinforces the need for Swimsafe Taranaki’s services, with schools describing the sessions as incredibly valuable and well organised.
“In the 2025/26 season Swimsafe Taranaki trained 608 teachers, reaching 10,860 students in 63 primary and intermediate schools.
“Swimsafe also supported two schools in EOTC (Education Outside the Classroom) events, worked with swim clubs, delivered a session to a Home Educators group and volunteered at the Weetbix Kids TRYathlon.
“We’re extremely appreciative of Toi Foundation support. We wouldn’t be able to do all this each year without them.”
