JUNIOR SKILLS EVALUATION

Many activities that nippers undergo are conducted in the water. To ensure that all nippers have a suitable swimming ability to allow them to participate in these activities, Surf Life Saving Australia has developed a Junior Preliminary Skills Assessment for each age group. This is done in the pool or ocean and can be signed off by your child’s swimming teacher prior to nippers starting.  Every nipper must participate in this evaluation, prior to participating in any water activity. The evaluation consists of a swim and a float, which is progressively increased by age group and must be achieved before the nipper may undertake any water related activities.  If the nipper shows successful demonstration of the Preliminary Skills Assessment a second assessment known as the Competition Skills Evaluation needs to be completed. Competition Skills Evaluations will take place during the first few weeks of the start of the season weather providing. If the weather is inclement we will advise on other dates for the skills testing. These are two different assessments and one cannot be used to qualify a child for the other requirement. Your child’s pathway through the nippers program is summarised in the table below and attached is the prelim form for you to print out and complete.