Coroner calls on Education Secretary to ensure water safety education for all

Joe Abbess, 17, from Southampton, and Sunnah Khan, 12, from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, drowned and eight other people were treated by paramedics after they were thought to have been caught in a rip current next to the pier at the Dorset seaside resort on May 31 last year.

During the inquest into their deaths, the parents of the two had questioned the lifeguard response to the incident and whether better signs should have been in place warning of the risk of rip currents by the pier, as well as providing safety advice for swimmers.

Dorset senior coroner Rachael Griffin ruled that the deaths were accidental and said that she was satisfied “nothing more than was done, could have been done” to prevent the tragic deaths of the children.

However, Ms Griffin said that she would be writing to Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson in a prevention of future deaths report over her concerns of the lack of mandatory education in schools regarding water safety.

The move was welcomed at the inquest conclusion by Vanessa Abbess, who said: “We feel much more can be done to improve education around water safety. We share the senior coroner’s concern that there should be mandatory water safety education for children.

“Like the senior coroner, I am concerned that this should be universal for all children.

“If any message can be taken from our loss, it is that rip currents can be dangerous, and everyone should know and practise the RNLI’s advice of float to live.”

In her report published on Friday, Ms Griffin raised her concern that as of March 2020, one in four children did not have access to swimming lessons, with that figure thought to have decreased since the Covid-19 pandemic.

She pointed out that the primary school curriculum requires children to be able to swim at least 25 metres and have an understanding of self-rescue and survival skills.

Ms Griffin wrote: “If children do not get access to this vital lifesaving education in school, there are concerns as to where this awareness will come from.

“Some will receive it from privately funded swimming lessons, however, not every child is fortunate enough to have such lessons.

“The Royal Lifeguarding  Safety  Society (RLSS) and Sunnah and Joe’s mothers have been advocating for water safety to become part of the classroom part of the curriculum as opposed to the physical education part of the curriculum on the basis that if children cannot do the practical part of water safety, they will at least have access to water safety awareness and lifesaving skills in a classroom setting.”

She added: “There are inherent dangers of using any form of water and it is crucial for people to have an awareness of these risks and how to manage them as the lack of awareness could lead to more deaths from drowning.

“An ideal opportunity to warn and inform all members of the public would be through educating children of the risks.

“The lack of providing education to children around these risks through the national classroom curriculum could lead to future deaths.”

She added in the report sent to Bridget Phillipson: “In my opinion urgent action should be taken to prevent future deaths and I believe you and/or your organisation have the power to take such action.”

The Education Secretary has a duty to respond to the coroner’s report within 56 days.

A DfE spokesperson said: “Swimming and water safety is a vital life skill, and we are determined to ensure every child learns how to be safe in the water.

“Swimming and water safety are compulsory elements of the PE national curriculum at Key Stages 1 and 2, including teaching on how to perform safe-self rescue in different water-based situations.”