A polar bear mascot is being used by Alpine Aqualand to help deliver water safety messages to Wakatipu children this summer, and a competition has opened to choose the bear's name.
Lakes Leisure is today launching its aquatic education programme through its Aqualand Swim School for the second year.
Aquatics manager Alex Calwell said 450 children from St Josephs School and Arrowtown School participated in 2008, and this year all pupils from those schools would take part, taking the total to 570.
Other schools in the district were welcome to join in and inclusion of teenagers was tipped for the future.
The programme involved swimming lessons for children in years 0 to 8.
They would learn how to wear life jackets, safely enter and exit swimming pools and awareness of river safety.
Survival swimming techniques, such as side stroke and elementary back stroke, would be taught.
Costs per child were met by the schools.
"NZSki have come to the party and provided transport from the schools to the pool, which is a huge cost saver and appreciated by us and the schools," Mr Calwell said.
Kawarau Jet had organised four boat trips from Frankton beach, starting on November 17.
Drivers would explain the importance of wearing life jackets to put the programme in a real-world context, Mr Calwell said.
New World Wakatipu paid for a dinghy and life jackets last year.
Mr Calwell said one in five New Zealand children could swim only 25m and nearly half could not swim 200m by age 12, the national standard to swim and survive set by New Zealand Water Safety.
"This programme is designed to turn those stats around and get kids to start thinking about safe and enjoyable activities on the water."
• Lakes Leisure is inviting residents to enter their choice of name in a competition for Alpine Aqualand's new polar bear mascot and water safety advocate. The child who enters the best name will win a term of free swimming lessons at Alpine Aqualand. The winning name will be announced in the second week of November.
