Swimming Australia lesson plans (Swim and Survive Stages 1–7)
Australian learn-to-swim places survival and rescue skills alongside stroke development from the very first stage. The Royal Life Saving Swim and Survive stages are not equivalent to Swim England stages or Red Cross levels — they have their own outcomes, and every lesson should carry a level-appropriate safety element.
Stage outcomes at a glance
- Stage 1 — Beginner: safe entry and exit, bubbles and submersion, supported floats and glides, basic water safety messages.
- Stage 2 — Water Discovery: unaided float and glide, flutter kick, 5 m travel, freestyle arm action introduced, reaching rescue awareness.
- Stage 3 — Preliminary: freestyle with side breathing over 10 m, backstroke 10 m, sculling, survival float, signalling for help, reaching rescues with an aid.
- Stage 4 — Water Awareness: freestyle and backstroke 15–25 m, breaststroke kick and survival backstroke introduced, treading 1 minute, throw rescues.
- Stage 5 — Water Sense: freestyle and backstroke 25–50 m, breaststroke and survival backstroke 25 m, butterfly kick, 3-minute survival sequence in clothing.
- Stage 6 — Junior: freestyle 100 m, backstroke and breaststroke 50 m, butterfly 25 m, surface dives, 5-minute survival sequence, accompanied rescues.
- Stage 7 — Intermediate: 100 m+ of all strokes, 400 m continuous swim, extended survival sequence, deep-water rescues, lifesaving pathway preparation.
Building survival into every lesson
Survival skills are taught, not mentioned. Treading water, floating in clothing, signalling for help, reaching and throwing rescues and safe entries all belong in the main body of the lesson at the appropriate stage.
Selecting the Swimming Australia framework in SwimWise AI switches terminology to freestyle, survival backstroke and survival sequences, uses metres, and includes a level-appropriate safety or survival element in every plan.
Frequently asked questions
Are Swim and Survive stages the same as Swim England stages?
No. They are separate frameworks with different outcomes. SwimWise AI plans against the Swim and Survive outcomes when you select the Swimming Australia framework.
Do plans include rescue skills?
Yes, at the stage where they belong — from reaching rescue awareness in the early stages to accompanied and deep-water rescues in the later ones.
Plan this lesson in under a minute
Choose your framework, stage, stroke focus and the problem you are seeing. SwimWise AI builds a structured plan with warm-up, timed activities, teaching points, progressions, regressions and adaptations — with a teaching reason behind every activity.
More lesson planning guides
How to build free, structured swim lesson plans that follow a real teaching progression.
Water confidence first: how to plan the earliest stages without rushing into full strokes.
Body position, legs, arms, breathing — a diagnostic order for teaching front crawl.
Kick before arms, and why fins have no place in breaststroke technique work.