Water Safety Education visits
Visit the RNLI or invite the RNLI to your school, group or setting.
Why not invite the RNLI to your school or group?
The RNLI saves lives at sea. But beyond the work we do on our lifeboats and beaches, we’re an active part of the community too.
We’re here to help you with everything you need to teach the young people in your classroom or group how to stay safe in, on and around the water.
We will coordinate visits between 19 February 2024 and November.
As a lifesaving charity, we believe in prioritising the safety and welfare of our people. And sometimes this means we need to do more to protect the most vulnerable in our society. Learn more and access our Safeguarding Policy.
What do we offer?
- Classroom based water safety workshops for a range of age groups, delivered by our trained volunteers.
- Youth and uniformed group visits delivered by our trained volunteers.
- Virtual water safety workshops delivered by our trained volunteers.
How long does each workshop last?
Each workshop lasts for between 30 minutes and 1 hour.
What age groups do we work with?
This year, we would like to engage with the following age groups:
- Ages 5-7
- Ages 7-11
- Ages 11-14
- Ages 14-18
What is covered in a session?
We want young people to be safe and have fun around the water!
Our volunteers will share our four fundamental water safety messages, which are:
- Stop & Think
- Stay Together
- Float
- Call 999 or 112
You’ll learn how to spot a wide range of dangers, plan for a day out and identify an emergency situation – as well as understanding the effect cold water has on your body.
Our trained volunteers can attend a variety of events where they’ll run water safety talks and RNLI-themed activities. We can come to fetes, Life Skills workshops or any other type of event you might be planning.
Young people can learn about beach safety in one of our short, active group sessions. Our team can also offer a range of hands-on creative and educational activities based on saving lives at sea.
Whatever your needs, we can tailor our service to suit you. Just tell us about your event and what you’d like us to do.
Come and visit one of our museums
We have a number of museums for you to visit around the UK and these can help bring alive the RNLI's long and exciting history to your school or youth group.
Have a look around our Museums Pages for more information about visiting.
Our workshops have been developed to be adaptable for a range of abilities, age groups and audiences. Please let us know if your group have any specific requirements, support or additional learning needs in the booking form.
We have some fantastic resources available for other audiences too:
Younger children - Explore our comprehensive suite of water safety teaching activities and learning resources, aimed at younger primary school children.
Adults - The RNLI are experts on water safety. Whether you're heading to the beach, to the coast, or out to sea, we've collected together our essential safety advice so you can make the most of your time on the water.
Multi-lingual - Language shouldn’t be a barrier to getting our safety messages out to the diverse communities across the UK and Ireland. Here are some translated safety resources, to reach as many people as we can in our mission to save lives at sea.