Ms Andrews has been teaching swimming for the past three years through Swim 4 Kicks. 

Having taught a range of ages, the swimming instructor said she was shocked to learn the high number of children in Dubbo who were unable to swim.

“I do Department of Education swimming and last year there was one class of 17 kids who didn’t know how to swim. They were probably eight to ten [years-old] and they didn’t want to put their eyes under the water.

The rate of those who know how to swim was too low, Ms Andrews said, while the drowning rate was too high.

“The last financial year there were 291 drownings recorded by Royal Life Saving. I think it was something like 50-odd between December 2016 and February 2017. It’s ridiculous and when you look back at the records it’s rising by about eight people per year,” she said.

“Some we can’t do anything about like there are silly ones where people are having a drink and they decide they want to go for a swim, we can’t stop that. But the younger kids drowning, there’s got to be something we can do and hopefully I’m playing my part in that.”

Parents also needed to ensure they kept an eye on their children, she said. Most parents didn’t know that a child could down in three centimetres of water, the swim instructor said.

“Parent supervision is number one, even if you’re at the town pool, it’s number one. You’ve got to keep an eye on your kids, there’s too much to lose,” she said.

Ms Andrews said babies could start learning water confidence from three to six-months-old, depending on the temperature of the water.

Quality Inn has been allowing Ms Andrews to use its pool for free so she can teach children at a cheaper cost.