An initiative of the Royal Life Saving Society the Keep Watch @ Public Pools scheme is aimed at preventing children from drowning.

Council’s manager of active recreation Tad Parish said it is about making parents more aware of where their children are and helping cut the incidence of drownings.

Posters will go up at the pool and information leaflets handed out pointing out just what good supervision at the pool is.

The key points are proximity, which particularly for under fives, stresses an adult should be within arms’ reach of the child.

That an adult should always pay attention to their child, particularly if they are under 10 years of age, and the programme stresses that “this is not an occasional glance while reading the newspaper.”

And the third factor is continuity and that no matter how old your child is you should check on them on a regular basis, and the younger the child the more often you should check and for under fives they should never leave an adult’s presence.

Mr Parish said the pool will adopt the programme which stresses that children are not allowed entry to the pool unless they are under the active supervision of a person 16 years or older and parents or guardians should actively supervise their children at all times.

He said when the pool is busy a promotional DVD will be played which prompts parents to check where their children are.