Following the STA Junior Lifeguard Academy Programme
Our Junior Lifeguard Academy is far more than an advanced swimming class — it’s an exciting, structured programme designed to develop strong swimmers into confident, capable young lifesavers.
Following the nationally recognised STA Junior Lifeguard Academy framework, this programme is designed for children aged 8+ who are ready to go beyond traditional swim lessons and take on new aquatic challenges. The STA programme is designed for young people from age 8, with aquatic learners typically needing to swim 50 metres continuously unaided before joining.
If your child(ren) follows the STA International Learn to Swim Programme swimmers can progress onto Junior Lifeguard Academy once they have completed their Shark 3 award. If your child(ren) follows any other awards programme and you would like them to Junior Lifeguard Academy, Contact Us.
Disclaimer: Swimmers participating in Junior Lifeguard Academy are taught to perform CPR on manikins and learn about different medical conditions, such as stroke, heart attack, bleeding and more. Therefore, it is parental responsibility to gauge when their child is ready to learn about such topics. Many of the activities include working in pairs/groups and swimmers participating in as the roles of ‘rescuer & casualty’, therefore peer to peer manual support is a fundamental part of participation in this programme.
The programme combines swimming, lifesaving, rescue skills, first aid awareness and personal development into one engaging experience.
Children progress through exciting missions and challenges that help them develop:
- Water rescue and survival techniques
- Lifeguarding fundamentals
- First aid and CPR awareness and practical sessions
- Water confidence and stamina
- Leadership and teamwork
- Fitness, discipline and resilience
- Open water awareness
This is where strong swimmers become water-smart leaders.
The STA Junior Lifeguard Academy includes a wide variety of structured awards and mission strands, allowing children to progress at their own pace while staying motivated and challenged. The programme includes Seal Series, Lifeguard Skills, Life Skills/First Aid, distance awards, sports skills and more than 40 missions.
Key programme areas include:
Seal Series
Perfect for developing core survival, rescue and personal safety skills.
Lifeguard Skills
Using rescue tubes, fins, boogie boards and practical rescue scenarios to introduce real-world lifesaving techniques.
First Aid Skills (Junior Medic)
Helping children understand emergency response, CPR basics and lifesaving awareness.
Distance & Stamina
Building endurance, physical confidence and stronger aquatic fitness.
Sports & Skills Development
Introducing water polo, diving, synchro skills and broader aquatic ability.
Parents choose our Junior Lifeguard Academy because it develops more than swimming ability. It’s one of the most powerful next steps for children who have completed learn-to-swim stages and are ready for more.
- Greater independence in water
- Stronger personal safety awareness
- Improved confidence and maturity
- Physical fitness and resilience
- Goal-setting through progressive awards
- Valuable life-saving knowledge
Junior Lifeguard Academy offers transferable skills linked to employability, for example, leadership, teamwork, communication, resilience, problem solving, first aid, handling of pressure in an emergency situation and health and safety.
Our academy teaches practical, age appropriate rescue and safety techniques in a fun, supportive environment. Children learn safe entries and exits, reach and throw rescues, treading water and the HELP position, plus surface dives and object recovery. We also cover casualty awareness, rescue equipment use, and team challenges. These are skills that build capability, not just confidence.
Our Junior Lifeguard Academy classes can have 1 teacher to 12 swimmers. Swimmers are put into small groups/pairs within the lesson size to split activities, for example, one group may practise CPR whilst another group is completing water work and then the groups switch over. Operating activities concurrently enable swimmers to maximise their lesson time in practicing skills.
Our Junior Lifeguard Academy is ideal for children aged 8+ who are confident swimmers and ready to progress. It suits children who love challenge and achievement, as well as swimmers interested in future lifeguarding. It is also great for young people who want to build leadership and lifesaving skills.
This programme is not just about certificates.
It’s about preparing children for life in and around water with confidence, responsibility and advanced capability.
For many swimmers, it becomes the bridge between swim lessons and future lifesaving, teaching or lifeguarding pathways into voluntary and paid roles in leisure.
If your child is ready to move beyond learn-to-swim and into lifesaving, leadership and advanced water confidence, our Junior Lifeguard Academy is the perfect next step.
Enquire today to secure a place and help your child become safer, stronger and more confident in and around water.
The Junior Lifeguard Academy awards do not count towards the qualification but the skills learnt are the same as on the qualification course.
Please see below options for when they turn 14 years old (we would recommend they do both):
1. Safety Award for Teachers (SAT)
First aid and rescue course for those 14 years plus.
Please follow this link for more information:
2. Aquatic Pool Helper
This will entail completing training in person or an online video on the details such as Safeguarding and manual handling. Then they will watch lessons at our venues to then be a teaching assistant to our qualified teachers. They will always be overseen by a teacher.
This would require a lot of time which they will need to commit to as Nicole would put time aside. She can do this from August 2026.
We would have a discussion with your swimmer about safeguarding as this is a very mature topic and it maybe we wait till they are older.
Please follow this link to see more information: Aquatic Helper Certificate – STA.co.uk
For any interest in courses, please let us know as Nicole has contacts who will know what courses are running.
Please see our FAQ page, click HERE