School environment

Integrating aquatic safety and lifeguarding into schools is easier than ever! The Lifesaving Society provides various programs and tools to help you achieve this. It’s a great way to contribute to drowning prevention while promoting a healthy and active lifestyle among students. Don’t forget, introducing young people to lifeguarding also opens the door to one of the best student jobs!

Aquatic safety

The Lifesaving Society is Canada’s leader in drowning prevention, so aquatic safety is second nature to us! For information and advice tailored to your needs, contact us by email at alerte@sauvetage.qc.ca, or by phone at 514 252-3100 or 1 800 265-3093.

Why include lifeguarding in physical education classes?

  • Students will engage in physical activity;
  • they will be educated about aquatic safety;
  • they will learn lifesaving skills that can be applied in emergencies;
  • they will learn how to save lives and prevent incidents;
  • they can earn a certification to work as lifeguards.

Integrating lifeguarding into your classes

Three ways are offered to integrate lifeguarding into physical education classes:

  1. Organize aquatic activities that serve as an introduction to lifeguarding, allowing students to acquire various skills and competencies in lifeguarding (water entries, approaching a distressed victim, supervision, ice self-rescue, etc.).

  2. Teach lifeguarding courses: It is possible to teach courses from the Bronze Levels (Bronze Star, Bronze Medallion, and Bronze Cross), which are part of the lifeguard training curriculum.

  3. Prepare an exam "challenge", which is a practical exam in the pool where each item and skill is evaluated, potentially leading to the issuance of a certification that allows the student to work as an assistant lifeguard.

Financial Assistance for School and Extracurricular Programs

Did you know that there are measures in place to support schools in sports and recreation? These measures allow you to offer certain school and extracurricular programs from the Lifesaving Society.

Swim to survive and Swim to survive + Program

The Nager pour survivre and Nager pour survivre + programs are created by the Lifesaving Society to prevent drowning and can be considered as an educational and sports field trip.

Additionally, the Ministry of Education, Leisure, and Sports offers a grant of $25 per student each school year to encourage participation in these programs, because knowing how to float is one thing, but knowing how to swim is quite another!

To learn more and fill out the participation forms, visit the website: https://nagerpoursurvivre.com/en/

Operating Budget Rules for School Years 2025-2026

Measure 15028—Extracurricular Activities in Secondary Schools

"This measure aims to support secondary educational institutions in offering a free and diverse range of extracurricular activities to all their students, promoting regular physical activity, fun, satisfaction, achievement, and the development of a sense of belonging to the school, with the goal of fostering participation and creating a stimulating environment conducive to academic perseverance and educational success."

Examples of programs:

  • Bronze Star
  • Bronze Medallion
  • Bronze Cross
  • National Lifeguard

Document Measure 15028: https://www.education.gouv.qc.ca/fileadmin/site_web/documents/loisir-sport/Doc_info_mesure_15028.pdf

Email Address: financement@education.gouv.qc.ca