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Victorian Water Safety Certificate

Victorian Water Safety Certificate

Did you know that the Victorian Curriculum anticipates that students are able to demonstrate the competencies outlined in the Victorian Water Safety Certificate by the time they leave Year 6?

The Victorian Water Safety Certificate is a Victorian Government initiative, which describes specific competencies that should be achieved by the time students reach the end of primary school. The certificate describes specific competencies that focus on water safety knowledge, rescue skills, a survival sequence and the ability to swim a continuous distance of 50 metres. The certificate is designed to supplement existing swimming & water safety programs delivered by schools and learn-to-swim providers.

Once a student has achieved the competencies of the VWSC, schools and learn-to-swim providers can order the certificates from Life Saving Victoria’s Online Portal.

Ensure you are regularly monitoring your VWSC uploads and data via your own VWSC Dashboard. Register for your own VWSC Dashboard Here.

    To receive the VWSC, students need to achieve the following competencies

  • Water safety knowledge
    • Answer questions on issues relating to water safety knowledge
  • Swim
    • Swim competently for a continuous distance of 50 metres
    • Swim to include 25 metres of freestyle and 25 metres of one other stroke, demonstrating sound breathing and stroke technique
  • Continuous Survival Sequence
    • Dressed in a t-shirt & shorts, students need to
      • Enter the water safely
      • Float, scull and tread water for 5 minutes
      • Remove t-shirt and shorts
      • Swim for 5 minutes using a combination of survival strokes
      • Exit the water safely
  • Rescue Skills
    • Demonstrate an effective reach rescue and one of the following
      • Throw a rope to a person at least 5 metres from the side of the pool and pull them to safety, OR
      • Throw a buoyant object to a person at least 5 metres from the side of the pool and instruct them to safety.

A range of resources are available to help with understanding, assessing and promoting the VWSC.

Teacher's guide

The Teacher Guide provides support for the assessment of the Certificate competencies.

Question and answer sheets

Question and Answer sheets may be used to support the assessment of the knowledge component outlined on the VWSC. These do not have to be conducted under test conditions, and teachers are encouraged to determine the best way to assess these competencies.

The online ordering system for the Victorian Water Safety Certificate makes it easy for schools and aquatic centres to directly download certificates.

    Save time using the online ordering system:

  • Step 1 - Enter your details

  • Step 2 - Easily upload student info

  • Step 3 - The system automatically generates individual certificates for each student

  • Step 4 - Download certificates!

We’ve designed the system to save you time, verify competencies have been achieved and improve program administration.

    Please note: To process your certificate order, you will need the following information:

  • Name and physical address of the school the students attend

  • Name and physical address of the swim school/aquatic venue where students completed the certificate

  • Name and AUSTSWIM number or equivalent (optional) of the Swim Teacher / Teacher issuing the certificate

  • Individual student first and last names*

  • Individual student genders*

  • Individual student year levels*

    There are two options to upload student details:

  • Complete the csv template (download now) with student full names, gender and year level, and upload; or

  • Manually enter

vwsc.lsv.com.au Visit Website

For further instructions on how to use the online ordering system watch the How to video or download the step-by-step guide.