Educating The St. Louis Community
Have you heard about our Community Outreach program? Barron Swim School is proud to have our very own Molly Jones at the helm, taking our motto of “Building Skills for Life” on the road! Molly is busy scheduling events at nearby schools, preschools, and daycares.
Community Outreach is Barron’s way of igniting the conversations we need to be having to eliminate drowning. In the same way that your child comes home with renewed interest in brushing their teeth after the dentist pays your school a visit, or how they excitedly tell you about getting to tour a fire engine during “fire safety week,” we hope that teaching our young ones to respect the power of water will refresh and reinforce the lessons they have learned at Barron Swim School during their swim lessons.
3 ways you can engage the Community Outreach Program
1. Water Safety Storytime
Our partners at Stop Drowning Now have developed a curriculum for children, ages 3-8, teaching water safety lessons in the classroom, on dry land. Molly brings the curriculum to life in preschool and early elementary classrooms with a 30-40 minute lesson, and she’d love to have you introduce her to the director or principal at your swimmer’s daycare or school.
Molly will come, free of charge, to present our Storytime Water Safety lesson to locations nearby Barron Swim School. Along with her, she brings a small take-home packet for each student: a letter to parents explaining the day’s lesson, a brochure to educate the family about our offerings, a Barron Swim School bracelet, and a coloring sheet for the kiddos to enjoy at home.
If the teachers so desire, Molly is available to come for a second visit to review and reinforce the water safety lesson. This second visit could be scheduled a week or two after the initial visit, and would be a great way to keep the conversation going.
2. Pop-Up Education
We want to make sure everyone knows what we have to offer at Barron Swim School, so the Community Outreach Department will set up a table at your school, center, or vendor fair. Molly will educate families about our offerings and engage them in conversations about water precautions that apply to their individual circumstance. The flexible parent pick-up time at daycares and school is an ideal spot for Pop-Up Education. As parents sign their child out for the day, we get to have a quick chat and maybe even meet some of our newest students. We offer a 50% off coupon for the first month of tuition to everyone who stops by our table, and we raffle off a month of FREE tuition.
3. On-site Water Safety Events
Barron Swim School’s Community Outreach program is also available to advise parent groups, such as MOPS groups or educational programs at your community center. This service is free of charge. We want to keep the conversation of water safety going, no matter the time of year.
If you have a group of children who work together in community, such as a scouting group, looking for a weekend field trip, Barron has developed an in-water safety program. Most of the 60-minute program takes place in the water, and the charge is $15 per student. Ideally we would have 8-16 students per class. This is a team building event and is best-suited to working with children who already know each other well. Students must be 6 or older to participate in this event, and it will be scheduled on select Saturday afternoons with Molly.
Contact Molly at [email protected] to let her know that you’ve spoken to your preschool director or school principal and he/she is waiting for Molly to call them and schedule some vis