Participation Policy and Waiver

Waiver

As legal guardian of my designated student(s), I hereby consent to all student(s) participating in this facility's program(s). I recognise that potentially severe injuries can occur during swimming lessons and physical activity in general. I understand that it is the express intent of all staff and personnel to provide for the safety and protection of my student(s) and, in consideration for allowing my student(s) to use these facilities, I hereby COVENANT NOT TO SUE and FOREVER RELEASE this facility, affiliated and partner companies and organizations, property owners and lessors, staff, contractors, subcontractors, teachers, coaches, owners, directors and other members involved in this facility's program(s), from all liability and for any and all damages and injuries suffered by my student(s) during instruction, supervision, and/or control during any and all classes or extra activities.


WHAT TO WEAR

Babies and toddlers under the age of 3 are required by the health department to wear a well fitting swim nappy with firm fitting elastic around the waist and legs and then a pair of swimmers over the top. Fabric or disposable swim nappies are acceptable. This creates a double layers of protection incase of a bowel movement during lessons. If your child does have a bowel movement during class please take them out and change them.

Parents who are in the pool with their baby or toddler can wear any swim wear they are comfortable in. T-shirts over their swimmers are NOT required. Our pools are covered so no need for suncream.

PHOTO AND VIDEO POLICY

A photo of your child will be taken to add to their student file, this can be viewed by yourself and our teachers and will appear in their file. We may also take photo or video footage of your child during lessons, when they receive a certificate or participate in one of our events. We may use these images and footage for our facebook, instagram, website, staff training and marketing. Please let us know if you do not consent to this. We will ask for your permission again at the time the photo or video is taken. 

If you wish to take photos or video's of your child please ask on reception first so we can check with the parents of the other students. Please only get your child in the images or video's if consent from the other parents in granted.

CODE OF CONDUCT FOR PARENTS AND CARERS

As a parent/carer of a child involved in the service provided by the Welcome to Water Provider, I agree that:

I will respect the rights, dignity and worth of every person, regardless of their abilities, gender, religion or cultural background.

I will respect the decisions of employees/officials and teach children to do likewise 

I will focus on and encourage children's efforts and performance

I will support all efforts to remove any form of abuse in this organisation and encourage a safe and supportive service environment

I will remember that my child participates in activities for their own enjoyment, not mine

I will raise any issues or concerns with staff

I will use encouraging/positive words and a pleasant tone of voice 

I will use open and honest communication 

I will not treat any child or young person in an unfair, unjust, or discriminatory manner

I will not smoke on the organisation's premises

I will not drink alcohol or use illicit substances while on the organisation's premises or be under the influence of alcohol or illicit substances while on the organisation's premises

I will not engage in bullying or harassment

I will not use threatening language/body language/eye contact

I will not use swear words

I will not engage in any interaction of a sexual nature

I will not engage in violent or aggressive behaviour

I understand that acting contrary to any of the above statements may result in being ejected from the premises and/or being referred to the police.

Welcome to Water Submersion Policy 

This policy is related to the act of a carer/teacher physically assisting a student to submerge underwater. Is in place to ensure that the use of force is minimised, the distress caused to the student is minimised, and the learning curve of the student is maximised.

A human submerging in water can be one of life’s greatest pleasures or most terrifying

experiences. The need to breathe is controlled by the body’s most primal systems. There is absolutely no moral justification for forcing anyone, baby, toddler, child or adult, to submerge in order to teach them to swim, especially as there is other less traumatic and effective ways to meet the goal of a happy, confident, independent swimmer. Welcome to Water serious about this and this policy is a part of our core philosophies.

We believe that a baby is an individual with their own rights:

-right to feel safe, in a safe environment

-right to learn life skills, without the use of force or coercion

-the right to everything that they need to survive and flourish: Food & water, shelter, clothing, and air to breathe.

We believe "Aquatic Readiness" is a core principle when teaching infants. Aquatic Readiness is:

"the concept of using a prerequisite, incremental approach to the learning process, whilst taking into account the individual characteristics of the child in the moment, when attempting new or familiar swimming skills."

We believe that relying purely on inbuilt reflexes when submerging an infant is a use of force. We believe the transition out of the reflexive breath holding stage, into the learnt breath holding stage, to be one of the elements to achieve the “Aquatic Readiness” to teach breath holding cues to prepare for submersion.

Submerging an infant must be only be done when all elements of "Aquatic Readiness" have been observed. Failing to achieve Aquatic Readiness when submerging, is forcefully denying a person of air. This practice creates trauma which has negative consequences for the development of infants, which far outweighs any perceived benefits of using force to teach submersion.

We believe that forcefully denying a person of air in any arena, especially in a swimming lesson, constitutes a use of force, which breaches basic human rights.

Carers

Carers who do not adhere to this submersion policy will be immediately offered feedback on the attempted submersion.

“Your baby was not showing good signs of readiness that time. Next time look for A/B/C before submerging”

*Carers who do not adhere to this submersion policy for a second time will be asked to cease submerging their baby for the duration of the lesson.

“Your baby needs to have a rest from going under for the rest of the lesson. We can try again next week.”

They must be contacted after the lesson, with a copy of the submersion policy for carers with a summary of which parts are relevant to them and their baby.

*Carers who continue break the submersion policy will be asked to finish the lesson immediately and directed to reception to book a makeup class. They must be contacted after the lesson, with a copy of the submersion policy and a summary of what parts of the policy are relevant to them and their baby. Parents will be offered a 10 minute private class to assist them with understanding the process to submerge.

*Carers who continue to break the submersion policy over the course multiple times over the course of multiple lessons are breaking the “Carers Code of Conduct” and will have their enrolment cancelled. Carers are to be referred to Welcome to Water for further training on Aquatic Readiness and the use of force in lessons. Carers must be assessed as fit to return to lessons before reenrolling. 

Welcome to Water Submersion Policy 

No submerging in a Welcome to Water class, even if you have attempted submersions at home or another swim school.

Only attempt submersions in the paid infant classes at your swim school.

Only teach breath holding cues using water over the airway on baby’s older than 4 months of age who are also showing all signs of readiness to participate.

Always check off the Aquatic Readiness to Submerge Checklist before submerging a child.

Teachers should offer feedback to the carer and baby each time a submersion is attempted.

Teachers should never make a carer feel as though they must submerge their child. Instead, parents should be schooled in the Aquatic Readiness level of their child, to give them confidence.

Never submerge a crying baby.

Never submerge a baby on their first swimming lesson.

Always err on the side of not submerging. Submersions should be limited based on the Aquatic Readiness of the child. Children should not be taken to their limit, instead, carers and teachers should sense when enough is enough. Less is more.

The cues to swim are a request to, not a command to swim.

It is okay to do an entire swimming lesson without submerging an infant.

“Being” submerged is different to “being assisted” to submerge. Always look for an element of voluntarism when submerging.

Teachers should never offer to submerge a baby for their first underwater experience.

If a carer requests a teacher to submerge their baby for their first time, they should be told that they should share this experience together, and allow themselves more time until they can better read the cues from their baby, which will give them the confidence to attempt submersion.

Cuing is not a command - it is a request. Delivering a submersion command to a baby and expecting them to comply, sets up an authoritative relationship with the carer as the intermediary between baby and the water. Carers should be there to facilitate the baby’s natural desire to explore and experience the underwater world. Carers teach about the water, they don’t instruct on how and when to perform skills.

Privacy Policy 

In this Privacy Policy, the expressions “Fluid Thought Pty Ltd”, "we", "us" and "our" are a reference to Fluid Thought Pty Ltd ACN 648 572 730 and its Related Bodies Corporate and Related Entities. 

This Privacy Policy applies to Personal Information collected by us. We are bound by the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), which governs the way private sector organisations collect, use, keep secure and disclose Personal Information. 

By being a client of us, transacting with us, using our website or providing Personal Information to us in any way, you agree and consent to the collection, maintaining, holding, use and disclosure of your Personal Information as set out in this Privacy Policy.

We have taken steps to implement practices and procedures and systems to meet our commitment to you that information collected will be appropriately handled and managed and we are able to deal with any inquiries or complaints you may have about the way your Personal Information is dealt with by us.

As required by the Australian Privacy Principles, in addition to other things, this Privacy Policy sets out:-

the type of Personal Information that is collected and held by us;

how Personal Information is collected and held by us;

why we collect, hold, use and disclose Personal Information;

how you can access your Personal Information; 

how a complaint can be made and how it will be dealt with by us; and

if your Personal Information is likely to be disclosed overseas.

We recommend that you keep this information for future reference.

Definitions 

In this Privacy Policy: 

“Personal Information” has the same meaning as it has under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) as amended from time to time (“the Act”);

“Primary Purpose” means Personal or Sensitive Information about an individual that was collected for a particular purpose. Any use of disclosure of the information for another purpose is known as the “Secondary Purpose”; 

"Related Body Corporate" or "Related Bodies Corporate" has the same meaning as under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth);

"Related Entity" or "Related Entities" has the same meaning as under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth);

"Services" means the services and products provided by us or facilitated by us;

"Sensitive Information" has the same meaning as it has under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth);

"Website" means http://www.welcometowater.com.au or any other website or application we may establish or operate from time to time; and

the meaning of any general language is not restricted by any accompanying example, and the words 'includes', 'including', 'such as', 'for example' or similar words are not words of limitation.

Types Of Information That Is Collected And Held By Us

We collect Personal Information to provide our Services to our clients and the functions and activities undertaken by us. We collect Personal Information about staff, clients and other individuals who have dealings with us for administrative needs, to conduct our business, for legislative compliance and for marketing purposes.

The type of information we may collect from you includes (but is not limited to) the following: 

your contact information such as full name (first, middle and last), e-mail address, current postal address, residential address (if different to postal address) and phone numbers; 

your date of birth and/or age;

proof of your date of birth (including, but not limited to, driver’s licence, passport, birth certificate); 

your financial information (such as credit card or bank account numbers);

any additional information required to provide you with our Services including but not limited to produces or services we have provided to you and/or that you have enquired about;

your opinions, statements and endorsements collected personally or via surveys and questionnaires; 

details relating to your employment (if applicable) or your previous employment, including referee and emergency contact details, applications for employment and supporting documents, employment contracts and other records relating to terms and conditions of employment, records relating to salary, employment benefits and leave, medical certificates, taxation details, banking information necessary to pay salary and wages, superannuation contributions, information related to training and development, information related to work performance, fingerprints, facial recognition biometrics;

your employment status; 

details relating to complaints; 

current and prior education details; 

information regarding language preference and proficiency;  

if you are requesting products or services from us or we are purchasing goods or services from you, any relevant payment or billing information (including but not limited to bank account details, direct debit, credit card details, billing address, repayment information and invoice details); 

each of the above information in relation to your child(ren); and

any other information requested by us and/or provided by you or a third party.

Some of the Personal Information that we will collect and hold will be Sensitive Information. We only collects Sensitive Information where it is necessary for the purpose for which it is being collected and with the individual’s consent unless the collection is required or authorised by law.  

The type of Sensitive Information we may collect from you or record about you is dependent on the Services provided to you by us and will be limited to those purposes reasonably necessary for our functions or activities. We do not use Sensitive Information to send you Direct Marketing Communications (as defined in paragraph 6 below) without your express consent.

We will provide notification at the point of collection of both Sensitive Information and Personal Information, as to the purpose for collection, and what the information will be used for.

How Personal Information Is Collected And Held By Us

We collect and hold information from a number of sources. Where possible and practicable, we will only collect information from the individual to whom it relates or with that individual’s written consent and authority. This will usually be collected through client meetings and official administrative processes and searches but it may also be collected from email, letters or other forms of communication and information made available to us including our website and other third party platforms including social media such as Facebook and Linkedin.

We also hold Personal Information about individuals that is generated in the course of our Services and as part of our operational activities. Information such as recruitment information, survey feedback and access to our website and seminars is also collected and held by us.

Personal Information is generally held in electronic form, on databases but may also be retained in paper form.

We are committed to paper reduction and client files and matters once finalised and closed will be retained in electronic format only with paper records returned or responsibly destroyed.

When an individual accesses the our website, log files (“cookies”) can be created by the web server that contains certain information including the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the visitor, the previous site visited, the time and date of access and pages visited and downloaded. Cookies allow a website, to temporarily store information on an individual’s machine for later use. Our website may uses cookies to identify unique visitors to the site.

In order to improve the services that we offer and to assist current and potential new clients, we may store information about users of our Website to create a digital profile and to assist with website performance and marketing purposes.

We may also use web analytics to obtain statistics about how our Website is accessed. Web analytics rely upon cookies to gather information for the purpose of providing statistical reports to us. The information generated by the cookie about an individual’s use of the Website is transmitted to and stored by web analytic service providers on servers located within and outside Australia.

Individual users generally have the option of accepting or rejecting cookies by adjusting the settings in their web browsers. However, rejecting cookies may impact upon your functionality of our Website.

Our Website may contain links to other websites or pages. We cannot control the privacy controls of third party websites or providers. Third party sites are not subject to our Privacy Policy or procedures.

Why Personal Information Is Collected, Held, Used And Disclosed

When we collect Personal Information from you, the reason for collecting it from you will usually be apparent or we will advise you why we are collecting that information and how we intend to use it. Sometimes the collection of the information is required or authorised by law and there are consequences for the individual if the Personal Information is not collected. You have the right to ask us at any time why Personal Information is being collected if you are unsure. 

We may also collect Personal Information from your representatives, through our Website or other electronic communication channels, when sent to us via email or other communication from third parties, when required by law to do so, from publicly available sources of information, or when you enter into a competition or promotion or participate in a survey, from our suppliers or partners and from private vendors. We are not responsible for the conduct of third parties with respect to the handling of your Personal Information including any violations by third parties of its own privacy policy or applicable law/s. 

You might also need to provide Personal Information about other individuals to us (e.g. about your authorised representatives). If so, we rely on you to have informed those individuals that you are giving their Personal Information to us and to have advised them about this Privacy Policy.

We may also purchase marketing data from third parties and add this to our database to use for our advertising and send promotional offers to you which we think that you may be interested in. 

We will provide information about our Privacy Policy and about the right of individuals to access and correct Personal Information we may have collected. If we collect Personal Information in circumstances where the individual may not be aware of the collection, subject to our obligations with respect to confidentiality, we will advise those individuals of the collection of such information.

The purposes for which we collect, hold, use and disclose Personal Information is for a variety of different purposes relating to our functions and activities including:  

the Primary Purpose for which it is collected and related Secondary Purposes;

if required, the verification of your identity and the verification of your date of birth;

conducting research;

human resources management;

the provision of our Services to you, including sharing information with entities acting as our agents to provide our Services;

to communicate with you in order to provide you with our Services through various mediums such as email, SMS, social media, search engines and webpages;

to facilitate the administration and management of us including analytical research, market research and business development;

the administration and management of our Services, including charging, billing, credit card authorisation and verification, checks for financial standing, credit-worthiness (including but not limited to undertaking an assessment for credit loss and obtaining credit references from the trade references which have been nominated by you on your credit application form with us, if applicable), fraud and collecting debts;

the improvement, development and delivery of our Services (including to contact you about improvements and asking you to participate in surveys about our Services);

the maintenance, development and analysis of our Services, business systems and infrastructure;

advertising, marketing and promotional activities by us and our related bodies and third parties that we consider may be of interest to you (including direct marketing by direct mail, telemarketing, email, SMS and MMS messages, competitions, public relations and social media) such as our customer loyalty programs, promotional offers and newsletters;

to provide customer service functions, including handling customer enquiries and complaints and to resolve any disputes we may have;

to offer you updates, or other content or products or Services that may be of interest to you;

our compliance with applicable laws (including bankruptcy laws) and legal obligations, in response to a law enforcement agency's request, or where we have reason to believe that disclosing your Personal Information is necessary to identify, contact or commence legal action against a third party who may be causing injury or interference with our rights, property, Services or business ;

the sale, and matters in connection with a potential sale, of our business or company to a third party, including mergers and transfers of the business or part thereof to a third party; 

third parties to collect and process data such as Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, Google Adwords or other relevant businesses – this may include parties that store data outside of Australia; 

any other matters reasonably necessary to continue to provide our products and services to you;

where it is unreasonable or impracticable to obtain consent to the use or disclosure, and we reasonably believe the use or disclosure is necessary to lessen or prevent a serious threat to the life, health or safety of any individual, or to public health or safety;

where we reasonably believe that the use or disclosure is reasonably necessary for enforcement related activities conducted by, or on behalf of, an enforcement body; and

otherwise where you have given your consent for us to use the information for another purposes.

We may also use and/or disclose your Personal Information for other purposes which you consent to or which are required or permitted by law. This may include for a Secondary Purpose that is related to a purpose for which we collected it, and for which you would reasonably expect us to use or disclose your Personal Information.

In the event we propose to use or disclose such Personal Information other than for reasons in clauses 4.6, 4.7 and 4.10, we will first seek your consent prior to such disclosure or use.

If at any time you would like to unsubscribe from receiving future content, surveys, features or other marketing information or communications, we include in all electronic messages a statement to the effect that you, as the recipient, may send an unsubscribe message to us using the contact details provided in that electronic message. Otherwise you can contact us at any time to unsubscribe or update your preferences.

We may disclose your Personal Information (including, in certain limited circumstances, your Sensitive Information) for the purposes for which it was collected (as described above) to:

other members of us subject to obligations in respect of confidentiality;

entities who assist us in providing or are involved in our Services (including solicitors, consultants, and the like);

social media channels on which we have a presence; and

where we are required or authorised to do so by law.

Depending upon the reason for requiring the information, some of the information we ask you to provide may be identified as mandatory or voluntary. If you do not provide the mandatory data or any other information we require in order for us to provide our Service.

How Do We Protect Your Personal Information

We may store your information in hard copy or electronic format. Information collected by us will be held in an appropriately secure manner, depending on the information and method of collection, including: 

online and offline databases;

online file servers; and

locked drawers or filing cabinets. 

We will take reasonable steps to help ensure your Personal Information is safe. However, that we cannot guarantee the security of all transmissions or Personal Information, especially where the internet is involved. The transmission and exchange of information is carried out at your own risk. 

You acknowledge that we are not liable for the safety of your Personal Information where you provide or allow access to such information by parties other than us. 

Notwithstanding the above, we will take reasonable steps to:-

make sure that the Personal Information we collect, use or disclose is accurate, complete and up to date;

protect your Personal Information from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure both physically and through computer security methods;

ensure that information is only able to be accessed and used by employees that require the information to provide the Services to you and that access to your information is granted to employees on a ‘needs to know’ basis.

Attempts to access Personal or Sensitive Information by an unauthorised employee or use by an employee of Personal or Sensitive Information for any other purpose than that which it was collected (except in permitted general situations) is forbidden and may result in disciplinary action;

apply both physical and information and communications technology (ICT) security systems to protect personal information; 

put in place measures to protect against loss, misuse and alteration of electronic information; 

where necessary, use encryption technology to protect certain information and transactions; and 

destroy or permanently de-identify Personal Information if it is no longer needed for its purpose of collection.

However, the accuracy of Personal Information depends largely on the information you provide to us, so we recommend that you:

let us know if there are any errors in your Personal Information; and

keep us up-to-date with changes to your Personal Information (such as your name or address). 

Direct Marketing

6.1 You expressly consent to us using your Personal Information, including any email address you give to us, to provide you with information and to tell you about our products, Services or events or any other direct marketing activity (including third party products, services, and events) (Direct Marketing Communications) which we consider may be of interest to you.  

Without limitation to clause 6.1, if it is within your reasonable expectations that we send you Direct Marketing Communications given the transaction or communication you have had with us, then we may also use your personal information for the purpose of sending you Direct Marketing Communications which we consider may be of interest to you.  

If at any time you do not wish to receive any further Direct Marketing Communications from us, you may ask us not to send you any further information about products and Services and not to disclose your information to other organisations for that purpose. You may do this at any time by using the “unsubscribe” facility included in the email or by contacting our Privacy Officer.

The Types Of Organisations To Which We May Disclose Your Personal Information

We may disclose your Personal Information to organisations outside of us for a purpose directly related to the Primary Purpose of collection detailed in this Privacy Policy. Examples of organisations and/or parties that your Personal Information may be provided to for a purpose directly related to the Primary Purposes of collection detailed in this Privacy Policy includes but is not limited to: 

development, analysis, business and intelligence groups;

advertisement providers and sponsors or promotors of any competition that we run; 

authorised representatives or advisers or when you ask us to do so; 

third parties who assist us in the provision of our Services and who collect and process data; 

our employees, potential agents and/or business;

anyone to whom we transfer our business (or any part of); and

credit reporting agencies, courts, tribunals, regulatory authorities and law enforcement bodies and officers.

Your Personal Information is disclosed to these organisations and/or parties only in relation to the Services we provide to you or for a purpose permitted by this Privacy Policy however we are not responsible for the conduct of third parties with respect to the handling of your Personal Information. 

Disclosure Of Information Overseas And Cross Border Disclosure 

Any Personal Information provided to us may be transferred to, and stored at, a destination outside Australia, including but not limited to Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, countries within the European Union, India, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and the United States of America, where we may utilise overseas data and website hosting facilities or where we have entered into contractual arrangements with third party service providers to assist us with providing our Services to you. Personal Information may also be processed by staff or by other third parties operating outside Australia who work for us or for any suppliers, agents, partners or related companies of us.  

The Act requires us to take such steps as are reasonable in the circumstances to ensure that any recipients of your Personal Information outside of Australia do not breach the privacy principles contained within the Act. By providing your consent, under the Act, we are not required to take such steps as may be reasonable in the circumstances.  

By submitting your Personal Information to us, you expressly agree and consent to the disclosure, transfer, storing or processing of your Personal Information outside of Australia. In providing this consent, you understand and acknowledge that countries outside Australia do not always have the same privacy protection obligations as Australia in relation to Personal Information and you may not be able to seek redress in the overseas jurisdiction.  

If you do not agree to the transfer of your Personal Information outside Australia, please contact our Privacy Officer.  

Access To And Correction Of Your Personal Information

You are entitled to have access to any Personal Information relating to you which we possess, except in some exceptional circumstances provided by law. You are entitled to edit such information unless we are required by law to retain it or permitted to retain it in accordance with this Privacy Policy. However, we may keep track of past transactions for our accounting and audit requirements. Furthermore, it may be impossible to completely delete your information because some information may remain as backups.

If you would like to access or correct any records of Personal Information we have about you, you are able to access or update that information (subject to the above) by contacting our Privacy Officer. 

We may charge a reasonable fee for giving you access to your information.

Links To Other Websites

Our Website may contain links to other websites. We do not have any control over those websites and we are not responsible for the protection and privacy of any Personal Information which you provide whilst visiting those websites. Those websites are not governed by our Privacy Policy.

Consent

By using our Website (as may be applicable), engaging us to perform or using our Services or by accepting the terms of one of our terms and conditions which refer to this Privacy Policy, you are agreeing to the terms of this Privacy Policy.

If you do not agree to the terms and conditions of this Privacy Policy, please do not use our Website and contact our Privacy Officer. 

Updates To This Policy

In order to take account of new laws and technology, changes to our operations and practices and the changing business environment, this Policy will be reviewed and updated from time to time as is required by the Act and Australian Privacy Principles. 

The most current version of our Privacy Policy can be located on our website at http://www.welcometowater.com.au.  

You can also obtain a copy of our Privacy Policy by contacting our Privacy Officer at admin@welcometowater.com.au.

Privacy Related Complaints

If you have any questions about your privacy or privacy-related issues or wish to complain about a breach or suspected breach of your privacy or the handling of your personal information by us, please contact our Privacy Officer. 

We may ask you to lodge your complaint in writing. Any complaint will be investigated by the Privacy Officer and you will be notified of the making of a decision in relation to your complaint as soon as is practicable after it has been made, usually within thirty (30) days.

Privacy Officer:

P: 32 Fishburn st, Bentley Park, QLD 4869

E: admin@welcometowater.com.au

T: 07 40452782

http://www.welcometowater.com.au

If we are unable to satisfactorily resolve your concerns about our handling of your personal information, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner:

P: GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001

E: enquiries@oaic.gov.au 

T: 1300 363 992

www.oaic.gov.au